Herbaria of Russia: The role in the study of biodiversity of the country, the problems of conservation and management

Abstract

In order to preserve biodiversity on Earth, it is necessary to carry out an inventory of all forms of life as soon as possible, and this task is especially relevant for little-studied territories, including Russia. The terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of Russia represent the largest array of natural extratropical ecosystems in Eurasia. To solve the problem of inventorying flora and fauna, biological collections are of particular importance; in a number of reviews by scientists (mainly foreign ones) the attention of the scientific and civil community is drawn to the problem of preserving and increasing the use of collections. The article examines the role of herbaria in the study of biodiversity in Russia based on a quantitative analysis of collections, their representation in various regions of the country, the degree of their digitalization and integration into the global world network of biological collections. It is concluded that the herbarium fund of Russia is insufficient in terms of the number of specimens and unevenly distributed across the regions, the smallest number of plant specimens is available for a number of regions of the north-east of Russia. About half of all Russian herbaria are not registered in Index Herbariorum, although the pace of digitalization of botanical collections in Russia has somewhat accelerated in recent decades. It also highlights the problem of the preservation of herbarium collections, outlines ways to solve it and prospects for the use of herbaria in the future. The authors believe that the priority measures should be: 1) the formation of a regulatory framework for working with biocollections, which, in particular, will make it possible to recognize herbarium collections as objects of cultural and scientific heritage, and provide special funding for collections; 2) introduction into the practice of centralized accounting of Russian herbaria and their inclusion in the international database; 3) a ban on writing off herbarium collections by organizations; 4) increasing the pace of digitalization of botanical collections; 5) staffing of herbaria by professional researchers; introducing of a herbarium course in specialized universities; 6) the allocation of separate rooms for herbariums, equipped with specialized cabinets and ventilation.