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International Scientific Conference on Steppe Studies was Held in Sholokhov Museum

One of the stages of the XI International conference “Steppes and Steppified Communities: Environment, Transformation and Recovery” took place on June, 12 – 15, in the Museum-Reserve of M.A.Sholokhov. It was joined by the scientists from Russia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Greece and Finland.

During the presentation “Turning over the Pages of the Open Air Novel” the museum-workers spoke about the main activities of the National M.A.Sholokhov Museum-Reserve and the concept of its development.

Then the conference participants continued their work begun on June, 5, in the museum-reserve “Kulikovo Pole” in the Tula Region and in the V.Alyokhin Central Chernozem Reserve in the Kursk Region. The steppe researchers presented their scientific results, learned about the steppe vegetation diversity of European Russia, the problems of landscape recovery and conservation, and studied the working experience of the museum-reserves. In Vyoshenskaya, the talks were made by V.V.Fedyayeva, Head of Department of Botany, Faculty of Biological Sciences of the South Federal University, and T.A.Sokolova, a junior researcher at the department of Arid Ecology of the Institute of Arid Zones of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The main purpose of the forum members was the expedition to the steppe sites and natural memorials on the territory of the Museum-Reserve of M.A.Sholokhov. On the slopes of Olshansky ravine and cretaceous mountains of Kalinin Village they learned about the peculiarities of the steppe vegetation on the cretaceous deposits, saw rare and endangered endemic species such as hedysarum grandiflora and hyssop cretaceous. In the suburbs of Yelansky Village sandy steppe plants became the object of the study.

The guests visited the natural memorial Lebyazhy Yar and the Memorial Estate of M.A.Sholokhov in Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya, took part in planting Crimean pines in the forest of the environmental movement “Sholokhov Source”.

The conference held in Russia for the first time was organized by the Russian Geographic Society, the Russian Fund for Fundamental Research and the European Dry Grassland Group.

Yevgeniya Kharitonova
Galina Pichuyeva