Biomorphology: Current status and prospects

摘要

On the basis of the concepts of I.G. Serebryakov (founder of the science of plant life forms, ecological morphology) and an analysis of current data, the main directions of research and achievements of Russian botanists in studying life forms and the prospects for the development of biomorphology are shown. Plants are assessed as a distinctive group of living beings in the context of biological systems integrity. New approaches to habit characteristics, morphogenetic stages in relation to individual variations in ontogeny, and classifications of plant life forms are considered. The role of systemic and dynamic approaches in the description of plant life forms as modular organisms and the role of time as the fourth dimension and fundamental category in plant habit formation are discussed. Serebryakov's assumption about the evolutionary system of biomorphs as a system of parallel series of life forms similar to homologous series of genetic variation is confirmed.