Soil Ecology and the Study of Soil Functions

摘要

An integral concept of soil ecology is substantiated. Factor ecology, the study of soil ecological functions, and conservation of soil as an indispensable component of the biosphere are distinguished as the main lines of soil ecology. The basic tasksof factor ecology are studies of natural and anthropogenic soil-forming agents, comprehensive investigation of poorly studied natural agents (neotectonics, inheritance of relic profiles, etc.), and detailed elaboration and improvement of classification of soil-forming agents along with their qualitative-quantitative assessment. The challenges in studying the ecological functions in different soils are the systematization of individual ecological functions of soils, the comparative evaluation of the ecofunctions of various soils, the thorough investigation of the ethnic and social functions of soils, etc. The topical problems of conserving the soil as a component of the biosphere are the philosophic-methodological substantiation of a new paradigm of soil and the biosphere conservation, elaboration of a new scientific foundation of a complex system of soil conservation and restoration, development of a particular (special) type of soil conservation as a new nature- and soil-protecting area, and creation of the Red Data Book of Soils and the Complex Red Data Book of the Biosphere-Noosphere, etc.