Home – Home – Jornals – Geography and Natural Resources 2023 number 5S

The year 2023 marks the 85^th anniversary of the birth of two outstanding researchers and developers of methods for cartographic study of the nature of Siberia: Dr. Sci. (Geogr.) A.V. Belov (1938-2017) and Dr. Sci. (Biol.) V.F. Lyamkin (1938-2019). Their life careers were intimately linked with V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography SB RAS. They played the main role in devising methodological approaches and specific techniques for mapping natural systems as developed within the framework of the ideas of Academician V.B. Sochava. The article discusses the stages of formation of biota mapping as a special area of cartographic work on the study of the main components of natural complexes: flora and fauna. These areas have been pursued within the framework of the Siberian (Irkutsk) school of regional mapping since the 1960s and were related to the scientific support of active development of Siberian territories. Particular emphasis was placed on the study of vegetation in the regions as the source of various resources and as a critical component of natural complexes which determines many modes of their functioning. In those studies, A.V. Belov and his colleagues were responsible for the direction of the cartographic study of vegetation of geosystems, and V.F. Lyamkin headed the team that dealt with the problems of mapping faunas and faunistic complexes. Under their leadership, a large number of geobotanical and zoogeographic maps of the Baikal region and its individual territories were compiled in the form of survey small-scale versions and large-scale products for key areas. A.V. Belov and V.F. Lyamkin often acted as co-authors. The total number of their publications amounts to more than 300 scientific papers which implied the vector of development of geobotanical and faunistic mapping in V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography SB RAS.