Role of Tver State University botany department in the study of biodiversity: traditions and prospects

The Department of Botany is one of the oldest structural subdivisions of the Tver State University, whose history starts in the Teachers' School of Women of P.P. Maksimovich. The Department is densely involved in the processes biological education and botanical research in the Tver Region. Already at the initial stages of development, it began to play a leading role in studying the regional flora fulfilling an important function in the organization of scientific expeditions. A high level of study of the flora of vascular plants in the Region was achieved by the middle of the twentieth century. Biomorphological studies were started in 1970s. 90-ies of XX century were characterized by the floristic analysis of a complex character, including the inventory of a variety of fungi, bryophytes, lichens. Floristic and structural themes became the basis for the formation of new integral directions in XXI century. The approaches traditional for botany and ecology were supplemented by physico-chemical methods. Studied in the Department go far beyond the limits of classical botany. An original model of biomonitoring of the ecosystems of the Upper Volga Rregion was proposed and tested. A wide range of projects carried out at the Department contributes to the reginal applied science.