Regional aspects of the design of the Red Data Book of soils (on the example of the Kirov region)

Abstract

The problems of soil cover protection in the modern period are multi-vector. A number of Russian scientists, as one of the tools for preserving the soil heritage, substantiate and implement the idea of creating red books of soils, similar to similar books of plants and animals. Due to the different regional conditions and the history of pedogenesis, the degree of technogenic transformation of the soil cover of Russia, this concept needs further development, taking into account the specifics of local natural and social conditions. The purpose of the publication is to present some theoretical and methodological approaches of a general scientific nature in their regional interpretation, relevant for the development of red soil books. The main soil objects in the pedosphere of the Kirov region that meet the criteria of zonal standards, rare, unique and endangered soils, and are promising for inclusion in these environmental documents are identified. The zonal standards include podzolic soils of the middle taiga, sod-podzolic soils of the southern taiga, and gray (forest) soils of mixed forests. Among the representatives of rare soils, priority attention is paid to objects with relict phenomena in the form of residual – second humus – and buried humus horizons. In both groups, the main soils were considered to be developed on the cover loam – the most homogeneous and widespread parent rocks in all subzones of the region. These materials may be of interest to the environmental services as a guiding scientific information on the optimization of regional networks of protected natural areas by including in their composition a new-pedogenic-category of objects of conservation of natural heritage as part of nature reserves, micro-reserves, soil monuments of nature.