Geo&Bio (Jun 2023)
Zoologist Volodymyr Karavaiev and the Karadag scientific station in Crimea (to the 160th anniversary of his birth)
Abstract
Some unknown pages in the life of Volodymyr Karavaiev the world-famous Ukrainian zoologist, myrmecologist, traveler, as well as a large landowner of the former Kyiv Governorate are considered. Particular attention is paid to his stay and research activities in the Crimea, near the Karadag mountain massif, at the Karadag scientific station. The station was founded in 1914 at the own cost of Terentiy Viazemsky, doctor of medicine, a privatdozent of the Moscow University, in order to develop science free from state supervision. In 1917, at the beginning of the revolutionary destruction, Volodymyr Karavaiev was in Crimea, and the went to the Karadag trying to find a safe place for scientific activity. He was fascinated by the untouched nature of this place and, with the help of the geologist Oleksandr Sludskyi, who was in charge of the station, decided to build his own house and set up an entomological laboratory at the station. However, subsequent political events made it impossible to implement the scientist’s ideas. The significance of the station in the scientist’s life is considered in the context of the complicated fate of the manuscript on ants of the Ponerinae subfamily the first one that the scientist almost managed to process after returning from a trip to the Dutch Indies in 1913 (the events of 1917 prevented it). The history of the manuscript is filled with losses, experiences, and hardships, but scientific activity in Kyiv and at the station continued and covers the period from 1913 to 1923. The acquaintance with academician Volodymyr Vernadsky is also mentioned. Also considered the trip of the scientist in the ‘academic’ carriage to Kharkiv, and from there to Crimea in November 1919 (together with Volodymyr Vernadsky, who continued traveling to Rostov.) It is emphasised that thanks to the shelter at the station, the scientist was able to increase his scientific knowledge; the tropical collections of ants brought to the station and therefore preserved, gave him the opportunity to successfully continue studying the ants of the world. Another significant reason for developing scientific studies was the station’s surroundings, which revealed the biodiversity of the myrmecofauna of Karadag. It is proposed to create a memorial library and a memorial collection of ants of the scientist as a national heritage.
Keywords
