The All-Russian scientific conference with international participation «VIIIth Galkina readings» («Readings devoted to the memory of Ekaterina Galkina») (February 2–3, 2017, St. Petersburg)

The 8th Readings devoted to the memory of Ekaterina Galkina (so called “Galkina readings”), a traditional enlarged meeting of the Mire Science Panel of the Russian Botanical Society (RBS), took place on February 2–3, 2017, at the V. L. Komarov Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Science. It was dedicated to World Wetlands Day, the 120th anniversary of E. A. Galkina, the 80th anniversary of her publication “Airplane Use in Plant Geography Studies”, and 80th anniversary of remote sensing studies of peatlands in Russia. The tradition to name the enlarged meetings of the RBS Mire Science Panel held in early February and dedicated to World Wetlands Day (February 2) as “Galkina Readings” began in 2007 with a celebration of the 110th anniversary of Ekaterina Alekseyevna Galkina. The number of meeting participants and talks have been growing ever since, with the most spectacular changes having occurred in the last two years. In 2017, the meeting enjoyed 63 representatives of 23 organizations, who delivered 36 talks. The abstracts of all talks, including four that were not presented due to the absence of the speakers, were published in the Proceedings. It was the first meeting where participants represented such a wide range of Russian regions, from Kaliningrad to Magadan. A list of research issues discussed at the meeting grew as well, with soil science and entomology having complemented traditional plant geography, hydrology, peat science, and bryology. For the first time, representatives of five strict nature reserves and national parks took part in the meeting. Following this trend, the format of “Galkina Readings” should be changed to a three-day conference instead of a two-day meeting. As soon as next year, international colleagues will be invited to participate in the meeting.