EVOLUTION OF SCIENTIFIC VIEWS ON STEPPE LANDSCAPES IN THE BOTANIST GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCHES

Abstract

In the process of writing the article we reveald the features of transformation
the scientific views on steppe landscapes in the context of development and
formation botanical and geographical researches, the relevance of a refinement of
this terminology for the solution of regional issues of rational use is reasoned. The
presence of a large number of different opinions about the nature of the steppes,
its characteristic features indicate a long process of forming geoecological
representations about steppe landscapes in domestic and foreign science.
During the progress of geographical and botanical knowledge (mid-XIX-early
XX century), the change in the level of development and settlement of the steppes
of the northern Black Sea coast, as well as the transformation of social and
scientific thinking, an expansion of ideas about steppe landscapes was leading to
formulation two approaches to the study of the concept of «steppe»: geographical
and geobotanical. As Viacheslav Mordkovich observes, the objective reason for
the ambiguous impression about the steppes is the extraordinary variety of steppe
biomes, which predetermined primarily by their large expanse.
The scientist rightly confirm that to accurate determination of steppe
ecosystem is necessary to apply all its constituent elements: climate, flora and
fauna, microflora and soil. Geographic and geobotanical sides of steppes
definition complement each other in interwined lines.Therefore, a truly complete
and unbiased determination of the steppes is only possible by combination of the
botanical and geographic approach, when the steppe zone is allocated not only by
geographical indices (flatness of relief, the dryness of the climate, black earth),
and also with phytocenological characteristics.
Keywords: steppe, steppe landscapes, steppe zone, botanist geographical
researches, armonious exploitation.