Valerii Ivanovich Taliev
Taliev, Valerii Ivanovich
Born Feb. 10 (22), 1872, in Lukoianov, now in Gorky Oblast; died Feb. 21, 1932, in Moscow. Soviet botanist.
Taliev graduated from the natural science department of the University of Kazan in 1894 and from the medical faculty of the University of Kharkov in 1897. From 1900 he was a privatdocent at the Petrovskoe Agricultural Academy (now the K. A. Timiriazev Moscow Agricultural Academy). His principal works dealt with botanical geography, the evolutionary theory, biology, and morphology of plants, phytopathology, and applied botany. Taliev was particularly interested in the role of anthropogenic factors in changes of flora and vegetation and from this viewpoint studied the treelessness of the steppes. He was a strong opponent of vitalism and anti-Darwinism. One of the first in Russia to advocate the conservation of nature, Taliev was the author of botany textbooks and guides to plants of the European USSR.
WORKS
Osnovy botaniki v evotiutsionnom izlozhenii, 7th ed. Moscow-Leningrad, 1933.Opredelitel’ vysshikh rastenii Evropeiskoi chasti SSSR, 9th ed. Moscow, 1941.