Plant community associations and complexes of associations in the Lithuanian seashore: retrospective on the studies and tragic fate of the botanist Dr Abromas Kisinas (1899–1945)

Abstract

The life and scientific activities and discoveries of Dr Abromas Kisinas (1899–1945, also appearing in the literature as Avraham, Abraham, Kisin or Kissin) are presented here for the first time. He was a botanist, a Lithuanian, a graduate of Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, a polyglot and a social figure. In 1936, Kisinas’ major phytosociological work “Plant Associations and Complexes of Associations in Lithuanian Seaside (without Klaipėda Region)” was published in the Works of Vytautas Magnus University Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The publication was written in Lithuanian with a summary in German and summarized Kisinas’ PhD dissertation, which was defended in 1934 under the supervision of Prof. Constantin Regel. In his research, Kisinas applied ideas proposed by the Uppsala School of Phytosociology. For plant communities evaluation he used linear transects with 1 m², 4 m² and 16 m² sampling squares. In a 15 km seashore range Kisinas determined 63 plant community associations and 26 sub-associations. The fate of this gifted scientist was tragic. In 1941 he and his family were deported to the Kaunas Ghetto. In 1945 Kisinas died at the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.

Keywords:

• Abromas Kisinas
• biography
• coastal plant communities
• Lithuania

Acknowledgments

Special gratitude to Dr Lara Lempert. The authors thank Prof. Lev Yadun and Dr Nirit Bernstein for editing the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.