The Soil of the Federal Reserves of the Republic of Kalmykia in the New Classification

Abstract

One of the main criteria for assessing the environmental well-being of landscapes is the degree of preservation of a useful gene pool in natural soils, controlling the necessary diversity of ecosystems. In order to preserve biodiversity and restore the natural balance it is necessary to expand and improve the network of specially protected natural territories (SPNT). A soil-ecological monitoring is of major importance in the system of measures for the protection and restoration of soils and ecosystems. Natural soils of such Federal reserves such as «Sarpinskiy», «Harbin» and «Mekletinsky» were taken into account when creating a new classification of Russia’s soils. Among the principles underlying the creation of a new classification of Russian soils and determining its theoretical essence, is the so called genetic principle, involving the division of soils, in connection with the assessment of their genetic profile which allows to consider in a unified classification structure all natural and anthropogenically transformed soils. One of the main problems in nature management and in ecology is the preservation of biodiversity, which is closely linked with the conservation of soil diversity. Therefore, to create ecological balance in the system of protected areas, soil objects should be taken into consideration. Thus, the author concludes that the search and selection of soils standards primordially in the existing network of protected areas are necessary to solve the problem. Reference soils from the point of view of global monitoring may be the only virgin soil, with minimal human impact.