The Laboratory of Synecology (originally the Laboratory of Community Structure and Dynamics) separated from the Laboratory of Soil Zoology and Experimental Entomology, headed by Academician M.S. Ghilarov, in 1980. In 1986, the Laboratory of Insect Ecological Physiology, headed by Professor R.S. Ushatinskaya, was incorporated into it. From the laboratory's founding until 2012 it was headed by Academician Yu.I. Chernov.