Institute of Zoology Republic of Kazakhstan

---

The Institute of Zoology of the Committee of Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan ( referred to as the Institute of Zoology CS MES RK ) is a scientific research institution that studies the wildlife of Kazakhstan. The Institute of Zoology CS MES RK was established in 1932 as the zoology sector of the Kazakh branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now the National Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan), and since 1943. it has been an independent scientific research institute. It is the leading and only scientific zoological organization in the Republic of Kazakhstan, which coordinates and conducts fundamental and applied research on the study of the animal world of the country.

The main goal of the Institute is to study the fauna, ecology and biology of wild animals, especially those of economic, epidemiological and epizootic importance, as well as the study of endemic, rare and endangered species of animals with the aim of developing measures for their conservation.

Zoology sector of the Kazakh branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences

The forerunner of the Institute of Zoology was the Zoology Sector of the Kazakh Base (since 1938 - the Kazakh Branch) of the USSR Academy of Sciences, founded in 1932. Its first leader was Sergey Ivanovich Snegirevsky. Under the leadership of the sector, the Alma-Ata Zoo (1937) and the parasitological hospital in Chimkent (now Shymkent) were created. In the 1930s, employees of the institution conducted research on the fauna and partly the ecology of birds, mammals, and some groups of invertebrates (mainly insects). Work was also underway to breed new sheep breeds.

During World War II, scientific research was redirected to the identification and development of methods for using additional animal resources in the national economy. In 1942, the Zoology Sector already included five scientific laboratories: zoology, parasitology, ichthyology, dynamics of the development of farm animals and genetics. The laboratory staff totaled 46 people, including 25 researchers.

Institute of Zoology, Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR

In 1943, the Zoology Sector was transformed into a separate institution. Five sectors were identified as part of the new organization: ecology and zoogeography, parasitology, genetics and development of farm animals, the study of folk experience and animal husbandry. The initiator of the founding of the institute and the first director was the outstanding Soviet zoologist Valentin Aleksandrovich Dogel, who was evacuated in Alma-Ata during the war years.

In 1946, the Institute of Zoology became part of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR, into which the Kazakh branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences was transformed. The structure of the institute has undergone some changes. The number of laboratories increased to 11: zoogeography, ecology, paleozoology, entomology, ichthyology, hydrobiology, protozoology, helminthology, arachnology, parasitic diseases of commercial animals, and chemical parasite control agents. The number of sectors decreased to four.

The main focus of the institute's practical activities during the 1940s was parasitology. At this time, the parasitofauna of fish, birds, rodents and lagomorphs is intensively studied, as well as the species composition, ecology and harmful value of blood-sucking arthropods and helminths of wild ungulates. Another large-scale project of this period is the development of measures to increase the biological productivity of reservoirs by acclimatizing new species of fish and food invertebrates based on studies of the fauna of reservoirs. At the same time, the systemic work of the Soviet zoologist Arkady Sludsky, dedicated to the biology of muskrats, was released. In addition, the staff of the institute carried out large-scale work to collect general information about the wildlife of Kazakhstan

From 1951 to 1967, the head of the institute was Academician Illarion Galuso. The key activities of this period are the in-depth study of parasites of wild and domestic animals, the development of measures to combat parasitic diseases of farm animals, the further development of work on the acclimatization of land and aquatic animals, the study of agricultural pests, and the systematization of information about the animal world of Kazakhstan (especially about birds and reptiles). In the 1950s, a nature museum was organized at the institute. Since 1961, new directions have been developing: clarifying the role of aquatic organisms in the circulation of radioactive elements in hydrobiocenoses, studying the effects of various wastewater substances on the hydrofauna, and biological regulation of the number of useful and harmful invertebrates. In addition, research on the ecology and ethology of mammals, birds, and insects has been widely developed. In the 1960s, a number of new laboratories were created, including the laboratory of biological methods for fighting the vulture (1968) and the newly organized laboratory of aquatic animals. Of the most significant achievements in this period, it should be noted the development of the theory of Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences Evgeny Pavlovsky on the natural foci of diseases of farm animals.

In 1971-1988, the institute was headed by academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR Evgeny Gvozdev, who created the Kazakhstan school of environmental parasitology and made a significant contribution to the study of biology and life cycles of helminth fauna of wild and domestic animals. During his leadership, the active development of measures to protect rare and endangered animals of Kazakhstan, as well as to systematize and theoretically analyze previously accumulated factual material, was begun. The collection of mammals collected by the institute reached the third place in volume in the USSR, the collection of fossil vertebrates and the remains of flora - the second place. The volume of the bird collection, numbering about 20 thousand skins, also became significant. In 1973, a laboratory for the biology and ethology of insects and a laboratory for the morphology and ultrastructure of invertebrates were created.

Institute of Zoology MES RK

Immediately after the independence of Kazakhstan, the institute monitored the migration of animals , especially the distribution of saigas in the republic (saiga news), depending on the time of year. Measures were identified and taken to increase the number of muskrats in captivity.

At the beginning of the XXI century, one of the institute's priorities was the work on the conservation of fauna of the Caspian lowland and the Caspian Sea, including the use of introducing salt-resistant fish and food organisms into the Aral Sea for them. Another important area of ​​activity was the international project “Conservation of Biodiversity of the Western Tien Shan”, which is being implemented in the border areas of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. In addition, the institute began to take additional measures to protect the Siberian Crane population in Kazakhstan and to carry out attempts to restore the biodiversity of the Aral Sea. Of the previous areas of activity, work is most actively ongoing on the search for scientific methods of combating natural focal and parasitic diseases of animals and humans. The Institute of Zoology is the scientific national body for CITES

Institute staff

Over the period of the Institute’s activity, about 50 doctors and 250 candidates of science (PhD) have been trained, among whom there are State Prize winners awarded with orders and medals of the Republic of Kazakhstan, members of various international scientific organizations. Over the years, such famous scientists as Igor Dolgushin, Illarion Galuzo, Evgeny Gvozdev, Turganbai Doszhanov, Eduard Gavrilov, Amankul Bekenov, Anatoly Kovshar, Anatoly Dubitsky, Ivan Mityaev, Victor Panin, Zoya Brushko and others worked at the Institute of Zoology.

From 2013 to the present, the director general of the Institute is Roman Jashenko, Doctor of Biological Sciences

Structure

Laboratories

• Theriology Laboratory;
• Laboratory of Ornithology and Herpetology;
• Laboratory of Hydrobiology and Ecotoxicology;
• Laboratory of Entomology and Arachnology;
•  Laboratory of Parasitology;
• Paleozoology Laboratory.

Departments

• GIS Technology and Remote Sensing Division
• Department of Molecular Animal Research
• Department for the conservation of ex-situ animal germplasm,
• Department of animal collection funds,
• Department of Information Technology and Patent Science.

Centers

• Animal marking center,
• Snow Leopard Center,
• Center for Cadastre and Animal Accounting
• Center for the determination of animals and zoological services,
• Center for training and popularization of zoology.

=Activities

The most important results of scientific activity in the Soviet period:

    

• The publication of the Red Book of the Kazakh SSR (first edition - 1978) and the Book of the Genetic Fund of the Kazakh SSR (1989), which included annotated lists of the fauna of all vertebrate animals of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
• Systematization of the collected material on fossil animals and plants, mainly the fauna of vertebrates and the flora of Cenozoic vascular plants.
• Identification of biocenotic relationships of hydrobionts in large reservoirs of the arid zone, including the study of the formation of the hydrobiological regime of the Kapchagai reservoir and the hydrobiocenoses of the Aral Sea under the changing hydrological regime.
• Acclimatization of hunting and fishing animals.
• Identification of the characteristics of bird migration in southeast Kazakhstan and bird breeding in mountain conditions.
• Create advanced acoustic bird repellents.
• Creation of a set of measures to combat the most dangerous insect pests, in particular desert pest beetles.
• Identification of anthropogenic factors affecting the formation of the fauna of blood-sucking arthropod groups.
• Development of recommendations for the control of parasitic arthropods, including using biological methods (pathogenic and predatory organisms that limit the number of midges in the arid zone) and low-toxic chemicals.
• Development of recommendations for counteracting parasitic helminthiases of pond fish, poultry and agricultural ungulates.

The largest works of the Soviet period: “Blood-sucking ticks of Kazakhstan” (in 5 volumes), “Helminths of ungulates of Kazakhstan” (and 2 volumes), “Birds of Kazakhstan” (5 volumes), “Mammals of Kazakhstan” (4 volumes. ), "Fundamentals of General Helminthology" (3 vols.), "Flies-bloodsuckers of Kazakhstan", "Late Cenozoic ungulates of Kazakhstan." During the years of perestroika, the publications “The Genetic Fund of the Animal World of Kazakhstan” (1989) and “Neogene Rhinoceros of Kazakhstan” (1993) were prepared.

In modern Kazakhstan

The main directions of scientific research:

• Taxonomic and faunistic studies: study of fossil fauna, clarification of the taxonomic composition of fauna (mainly invertebrate animals), preparation of the Cadastre of fauna of Kazakhstan.
• Preservation of the biological diversity of the animal kingdom of Kazakhstan: keeping the Red Book of Kazakhstan, optimizing the networks of protected areas, substantiating measures to protect species from the Red Book of Kazakhstan, studying the anthropogenic impact (including radiation) on animals.
• Creation of the scientific basis for the regulation of the number of harmful species: the study of animal parasites, the study of pests of medical and agricultural importance.
• Creation of a

scientific base for optimizing the study of resource species of animals in Kazakhstan.

By the beginning of the 21st century, the Institute had published over 200 scientific monographs, books, reference books, as well as more than 100 popular science works. When studying the vertebrate fauna of Kazakhstan, more than 800 new species are described. The Institute has so far collected and summarized a large collection of material for studying the geography and biology of animals of Kazakhstan and Asia.

The Institute has close ties with scientific institutions from the states of the former Soviet Union, the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, China and other countries of the world. The institute is also a CITES scientific body in the Republic of Kazakhstan on fauna (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), which provides work on the preparation of state conclusions on the export and import of wild animals.

References

This article "Institute of Zoology Republic of Kazakhstan" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Institute of Zoology Republic of Kazakhstan. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---