HISTORY OF TAXONOMIC MYCOLOGY IN BELARUS:
A BIBLIOGRAPHIC SURVEY

Introduction

The term taxonomic mycology relates in a broad sense to a cluster of research activities including, first of all, description of new taxa, establishment of correct nomenclature, classification and systematization of fungi (i.e. taxonomy sensu stricto), construction of keys, and preparation of checklists and mycotas writing; but it also includes collecting in the field and indeed sample identification. This broad concept was applied, for example, by Harold Burdsall (1990): ‘By a taxonomic mycologist I am referring to a field mycologist who collected specimens from nature, is acquainted with the anatomical characteristics needed for identification, and can then identify them using the available keys.'

Fungal taxonomy sensu lato is only a one part of general mycology in Belarus. Mycological publications of Belarus workers also cover mycology's four other main branches: studies in fungal pathogens (research into fungus-plant pathosystems and the pathogens control), fungal physiology, fungal biochemistry, and applied mushroom cultivation.

As in any such account, the history of mycology is not always free of subjectivity, especially in respect of assessing research contribution by individual scientists. To make the present survey more objective, it was based on published works, because they are the most stable sources of information and can be critically tested and assessed by any specialist. It has not been possible to consider all publications in the present work, and priority has been given to the most informative or most characteristic of the period when they were published: the complete body of publications on this topic is large. To date, two free-standing bibliographic works on taxonomic mycology has been published in Belarus – a bibliography of occurrence data for aphyllophoroid fungi (Yurchenko, 2005), included 446 entries, and bibliography on lichenology (Yatsyna & Yurchenko, 2007), included 382 entries.

In addition to published sources, some manuscripts, including theses, are also considered in this survey. Several important checklists of Belarus fungi (Girilovich et al., 1988, 1989; Golubkov, 1987; Serzhanina, 1988, Gasteromycetes…; Serzhanina, 1988, New data…; Serzhanina & Gapienko, 1980, To the myxomycetes…) were registered and deposited as manuscripts in the library of the special institution for information – VINITI, now the All-Russian Institute of Scientific and Technical Information (Moscow).

Acknowledgements

I am thankful to those who helped me in this research and who made available variouis older and rare literature sources for this survey: to Hbl. Dr V.A. Mel'nik (V.L. Komarov Botanical Institute, St-Petersburg), Dr V.V. Golubkov (Ya. Kupala Hrodna State University, Belarus), Dr M. Piątek and Dr A. Ronikier (Department of Mycology, W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Kraków), and Dr M.A. Dzhus (Department of Botany, Belarusian State University, Minsk). I am grateful to Dr D.B. Belomesyatseva (Laboratory of Mycology, V.F. Kuprevich Institute of Experimental Botany) for the help with literature and critical review of the manuscript. I appreciate Dr D.W. Minter (CABI Bioscience, Egham, UK) for the web support of this publication and critical advice on the text.

This work was partly presented at a session of XIV Congress of European Mycologists (Katsiveli, Ukraine, 2003), and I am grateful to the Organizing Committee of the Congress for the opportunity to make the presentation, which stimulated my continuing research into the history of mycology in Belarus.