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At the Faculty of Biology and Geography of the Karaganda Buketov University, a project of the Ministry of the Republic of Kazakhstan is being implemented under the title: "Methods for digitizing data on flora and fauna and posting on international platforms of biological diversity."
This project is quite new. Several regions took part in it - Karaganda, Akmola, Kostanay, East Kazakhstan, Atyrau and Mangystau. It is designed for 2023-2024. The team of scientists intends to complete the study, make a full abstract, submit a list of vascular plants of the flora, completely digitize the herbarium fund, and then place it on an international platform so that researchers from all over the world have the opportunity to see the available plants in the region.
Based on field trips, analysis of herbarium funds and analysis of literary sources, a complete summary of the flora of vascular plants within the new boundaries of the Karaganda region will be compiled. According to M.Yu. Ishmuratova, head of the research park of biotechnology communication, candidate of biological sciences, professor this year, since May, a team of scientists went on an expedition, where certain herbarium material was collected and a preliminary list of plants was compiled - about 400 species.
“To date, we have covered 50% of the region. Research will continue next year. After that, the final list of plants of the Karaganda region will be compiled. It will be published as a monograph and all data will be posted on the university website, as well as on the international biodiversity platform. In total, 10 people are working on the project - employees of the Research Park of Biotechnology and Monitoring of the Department of Botany and the Department of Physiology. Students of 1-2 courses also took part in the project. During their summer practice, they traveled to Karkaralinsk, where they collected and arranged herbariums. Students who had an internship on the basis of the laboratory learned how to properly sew a herbarium and make labels,” she said.
In the future, it is planned to survey other regions. Thus, scientists will make a complete reprint of the account of the flora of Kazakhstan, as it is very old and requires significant revision.
Part of the plants will be transferred to Astana, where flora genotyping will be carried out.