Boris Petrovitch Uvarov (1889-1970)
By Alan
Boris Petrovitch Uvarov (1889-1970) was born in Uralsk in Russia and obtained a “first” in Biology in 1910 at the University of St Petersburg. . His research specialism was the Orthoptera (grasshoppers and locusts) and it was his expertise in this fi eld that led to him being invited to join the staff of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology, in London, in 1920.
Uvarov pioneered modern locust studies. In 1921, it was published his famous “phase theory”.that explain the origin and disappearance of locust plagues.
During the 1939-45 war, he helped create the Middle East Anti-Locust Unit to help protect strategic food supplies and, after the war, Sir Boris Uvarov was appointed as first director of the newly established Anti-Locust Research Centre. Formerly, Uvarov was head of a small locust research unit at the Imperial Institute of Entomology in London.
He travelled widely in this role, visiting and advising in more than 20 countries where locusts were a problem Pest problems in developing countries became one of his key specialisms and he was advising on this until shortly before his death. He was also a celebrated taxonomist, describing some 900 new species and 218 new genera
Reference
Anonym. 2007. aab news. Newsletter of the association of applied biologist. Issue 63
http://qs.aqvs.co.uk/aab/images/Indesign%2063%20Final.pdf
Anonim. Natural History Museum Website
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/library/archives/catalogue/DServe.exe?dsqServer=placid&dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=A rchive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27AL%27)
Boris Uvarov (1888-1970)
By Arya
Boris Uvarov is a famous expert in the entomology. He is the founder of acridology, a branch of entomology studying grasshopper and locust (Toleubayev et al 2007). Since he studied in the secondary school, young Uvarov has been interested in the natural history. His enthusiasm in natural history got a support from his father who gave him a present of the Russian translation of Brehem’s Tierleben in six volume. He was also interested in making a insect collection and found S.M. Zkuravlev, a teacher in the Agricultural School, near Uralsk, who had a profound influence in his growing interest in entomology (Wigglesworth, 1971).
Uvarov found an effective way to learn entomology in Russian Entomological Society. In there, informal meeting was held every Monday and papers were read once in a month. Besides that, young Uvarov mingled freely with the most eminent entomologist (Wigglesworth, 1971).
Uvarov began developing his work, as entomologist, in 1920 in in the Imperial Bureau of Entomology in London. This institution, renamed the Commonwealth Institute of Entomologynot long after, became the Anti-Locust Research Centre in 1945 (Buj Buj 1995). He managed Anti locust Research center for 14 years until his retirement (Toleubayev et al 2007). Besides his activity in an organization, Uvarov also give many contribution to the development of the science especially entomology by writing many article and books. His written work, totalling more than 400 titles, in the fields of taxonomy, biology and ecology of orthoptera (Buj Buj 1995). Some of his books were Locust and Grasshoppers and Locusts of the European part of the USSR published in Moscow at 1925, Grasshoppers and Locusts: A handbook of general Acridology (Volume I 1966, Volume II1977) (Toleubayev et al 2007). Besides writing many papers in the scientific field, Uvarov made an early impression in 1921 by proposing his so called theory of locust phases to explain the phenomena of locust plagues (Buj BUj 1995).
References
Buj Buj, A. International experimentation and control of the locust plague African in the first half of the 20th century. 1995. Yvon Chatelin y Christophe Bonneuil (eds): Nature et environnement. Vol. 3, Les sciences hors d'Occident au XXe siècle, París, ORSTOM Éd., 1995, pp. 93-105.D
Toleubayev, K., K. Jansen, and Arnold van Huis. Locust Control in Transition: The Loss and Reinvention of Collective Action in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan. 2007. Ecology and Society 12(2): 38. D
Vincent B. Wigglesworth. Boris Petrovitch Uvarov. 1889-1970. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, Vol. 17, (Nov., 1971), pp. 713-740.
Biography of Boris Petrovitch Uvarov (1889-1970)
By Boy Valenza Damiri
Boris Petrovitch Uvarov was born in Uralsk in Russia. His research specialism was the Orthoptera (grasshoppers and locusts) and it was his expertise in this field that led to him being invited to join the staff of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology, in London, in 1920 (AAB News, 2007). Uvarov is the first entomologist who proposed Phase Theory of locust in 1921 (Baron, 1972). In the first place, the object of his studies was not the desert locust, but a relative, Locusta migratoria, which in 1912 had heavily plagued the Northern Caucasus where Uvarov was working (Baron, 1972). His theory explained for the first time how, under particular circumstances, migratory swarms could develop; an understanding that, in the years since, has proved crucial in combating locust epidemics, worldwide (AAB News, 2007).
During the 1939-45 war, he helped create the Middle East Anti-Locust Unit to help protect strategic food supplies and, after the war, was appointed Director of the newly established Anti-Locust
Research Centre (ALRC) at 1945 (AAB News, 2007; Anti-Locust Research Centre Archive, 2002).
His particular concern in Anti-Locust Research Centere was the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, and he played a key role for the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in devising a long-term control policy to combat this pest (AAB News, 2007).
Uvarov retired from the ALRC in 1959 and turned his attention to help for managing pest problems in developing countries and he was advising on this until shortly before his death. He was also a celebrated taxonomist, describing some 900 new species and 218 new genera (AAB News, 2007). In 1961, he got Knight Commander honour, a high honour that recognized his crucial role in combatting locust plagues all over the world (AAB News, 2007).
REFERENCES
AAB News. 2007. Newsletter of the Association of Applied Biologist. Issue 63. United Kingdom.o
Anti-Locust Research Centre Archive. 2002. Natural History Museum: United Kingdom (http://www.nhm.ac.uk).●
Baron, S. 1972. The Desert Locust. Eyre Methuen: London. □
Browne, L.B. 1974. Experimental Analysis of Insect Behavior. Springer-Verlag: Berlin.□
Chapman, R.F. 1976. A Biology of Locusts. Edward Arnold Publisher.□
Davies, 1988. Outlines of Entomology. Seventh Edition. Chapman and Hall: London.□
Denno, R.F and Dingle, H. 1981. Insect Life History Patterns: Habitat and Geographic Variation. Springer-Verlag: New York.□
Jermy, T. 1976. The Host-Plant in Relation to Insect Behavior and Reproduction. Plenum Press: New York.□
Matthews, E.G and Kitching, R.L. 1984. Insect Ecology. Second Edition. University of Queensland Press: Australia.□
Metcalf, R.L and Luckmann, W.H. 1982. Introduction to Insect Pest Management. Second Edition. John Wiley and Sons: New York.□
The Anti-Locust Research Centre. 1966. The Locust Handbook. The Anti-Locust Research Centre Publication: London. □
Pedigo, L.P. 1989. Entomology and Pest Management. MacMillan Publishing Company: New York.□
Price, P.W.1984. Insect Ecology. Second Edition. A Wiley-Interscience Publication: New York.□
Robinson, R.A. 1987. Host Management in Crop Pathosystems. MacMillan Publishing Company: New York.□
Vandewoestijne, S; Polus, E; and Baguette, M. 2005. Fragmentation and insects: theory and application to calcareous grasslands. Biotechnol. Agron. Soc. Environ. 2005 9 (2), 139–142.Δ
Wu, J and Vangkat J.L. 1995. Island Biogeography: Theory and Applications. Encyclopedia of Environmental Biology. Vol. 2. pp.371-379, Academic Press, San Diego.Δ
Short history of Uvarov
By Haris
Every scientist almost sure know Uvarov, the famous man which known as father of locust. He is Russian that concern to locust. Almost his life time spend to write and research based on Locust. After movement to England, he work as staff in the Imperial Bureau ( now the Commonwealth Institute). In these organization Uvarov work together with Miss Zena Waloff (a Expert) and initially concern more about Locust enemy in the word. Uvarov also had two good allies in an old friend, Sir Guy Marshall director of the institute and Francis Hemming, a British civil servant who was himself a fine entomologist and acted as secretary of the locust control committee ( Baron, 1972)
Reference :
- Horn , David J.1976. Biology of insect. W.B. Saunders Company. Philadelphia, USA.
- Elzinga, Richard J. 1978. Fundamentals of Entomology. Prentice Hall Inc. New Jersey.
- Romoser, Wiliam S. 1981.Science of Entomology, second ed. Macmillan Publishing Co.Inc. New York
- Gullan, P.J and Cranston, P.S.1995. The insect : an outline of entomology. Chapman and Hall. London
- Schowalter, Timothy D.2006. Insect ecology. Academic press. London.
- May, Robert M and Mc Lean, Angela R.2007. Theoretical ecology principles and applications. Oxford University Press New York.
- Anon.http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Island_biogeography&action=edit
- □Baron, Stanley. 1972. The Locust. Eyre Mathuen press, Great Britain.