In 1995 the Department of Hunting and Biological Resources was established at the Faculty of Economics. For the first time in Ukraine, the training of hunting managers was started. It was reorganized to train ecologists who could implement environmental protection ideas in agriculture and industrial production. Over the years of the department’s existence, its name and direction have been transformed in accordance with the requirements of the time and the needs of the state (since 1999 – the Department of Livestock Raising and Hunting). In 2001, it was transferred to the Faculty of Processing and Storage of Agricultural Products and named the Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection. In 2007, the department became part of the newly created Faculty of Agrotechnology and Ecology. In 2007, the Statute of TSATU allowed to do research on topics by economic contracts in hunting, fishing regulation and land management. The Expedition for hunting land management was created (scientific leader A.M. Volokh), which completed a significant number of research projects during 2011-2022 in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Poltava, Odesa, Khmelnytskyi, Chernivtsi oblasts and the Crimea.
Over the years of cooperation, branches of the department were created on the basis of the Azov-Syvaskyi and Pryazovskyi National Natural Parks, which became important centres of research and field and production practices for students. In cooperation of producers, scientists and teachers, students acquire the skills of conducting scientific research work and presenting its results at scientific conferences and scientific journals, postgraduate courses strengthen the scientific and pedagogical staff. In 2017, a new speciality 193 Geodesy and land management was opened, and in 2018 the department was reorganized and named the Department of Geoecology and Land Management. Since 2021, the scientific research program “Current state of geoecological conditions and biodiversity of the north-western Azov region”, headed by Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor A. Volokh, has been launched. There are three sub-programs within this scientific and research program:
– Current state of biodiversity of the north-western Azov region (supervised by Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor Anatolii Volokh);
– Dynamics of geoecological conditions in the north-western Azov region (supervised by Doctor of Geology Sciences, Professor Liudmyla Datsenko);
– Conducting geodetic works on objects of important ecological importance (supervised by Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor Olha Mazykina).
Scientific and pedagogical staff of the department take an active part in the high-quality training of students and their involvement in scientific work. Students have the opportunity to engage in scientific groups:
– Ecological safety (head – Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, senior teacher M. Hanchuk),
– Ecological Footprint (head – Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, senior lecturer V. Skyba, assistant O. Antonovskyi),
– Biodiversity of the north-western Azov region (head – Candidate of Biological Sciences, senior teacher E. Aiubova),
– Modern technologies in the solving of the tasks of geodesy, cartography and land management (head – Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor O. Mazykina),
– Land valuation and registration activity (head — Candidate of Economical Sciences, Associate Professor Yu. Prus).
The result is the active participation of students in various scientific conferences (international and all-Ukrainian levels) and competitions of scientific papers under the guidance of the teachers.
Today, the department employs 3 Doctors of Sciences (A. Volokh, L. Datsenko, V. Sydorenko), 9 Candidates of Sciences and 2 assistants, which fully meets the needs for teaching profile disciplines in specialties 101 Ecology and 193 Geodesy and Land Management. A distinctive feature of the department scientists is the diversity of scientific research topics. These are geology, landscape science, agroecology, ornithology, hunting science, hydrobiology and hydrochemistry, alternative methods of nature management, geodesy, land management, etc.
The following disciplines are taught at the department: in the specialty 101 Ecology – Introduction to the profession, Biology, Biogeography, General ecology with the basics of neoecology, Landscape ecology, Urban ecology, Environmental safety, Modelling and forecasting of the state of the environment, Agrarian ecology, Environmental protection technologies and geoecological risk, Environmental management, Conducting population and biocenotic studies, etc., which ensure comprehensive development of the future specialist in the environmental, agricultural and industrial spheres; in the specialty 193 Geodesy and land management – Introduction to the profession, Cartography, Electronic geodetic devices, Geodesy, Higher geodesy, State land cadastre and land management expertise, Land assessment and registration of land plots, Landscape, Methods of expert monetary assessment of land, Land-related expertise, Newest methods of remote sensing of the Earth and others, which fully ensure the acquisition of professional and general competencies by students of higher education and the achievement of program learning outcomes.
Today, the Department of Geoecology and Land Management meets the requirements of the modern system of higher education in Ukraine and European countries. Updated educational programs take into account the opinion of both employers and the students. The individual student-centred approach to each of the students guarantees their academic freedom. The teachers of the department are a constant advisory support for students, a powerful team of curators who have repeatedly become the best at the faculty and at the university.