History of Science and Engineering Annotation << Back THE HISTORY OF SOIL-ECOLOGICAL STUDIES IN TEMBOTOV INSTITUTE OF ECOLOGY OF MOUNTAIN TERRITORIES, RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES O.N. Gorobtsova, F.V. Gedgafova, T.S. Uligova, R.H. Tembotov The Laboratory for soil-ecological studies was formed in 2008. The concept on the biological effect of vertical – zonal structure of mountain ecosystems, which was developed by Tembotov A.K., has become a methodological basis for studies on regularities in the formation of the soil cover structure. The essential task of the Laboratory was the studies on biological properties of basic soil types which were formed under conditions of the kubanskiy, terskiy and elbrusskiy variants of vertical zonation. The fundamental studies on the key parameters of biological activity in both natural and anthropogenic-disturbed soils of the Central and Western Caucasus were conducted. The data obtained, which described morpho-genetic, physicochemical and biological properties of natural and agrogenic soils, were a methodological basis for the developed system of ecological assessment of the soil state. The interactive mapping model (IMM), which was developed by the scientists of the Laboratory with the use of GIS and remote sensing data, has become an instrument of ecological assessment. In 2016 IMM including information on plain and piedmont territories of the Central Caucasus (within Kabardino-Balkaria) was elaborated. The developed information product is a multilayered and multi-scaled package of vector-raster information; it was performed in integrated projection coordinate system and contains integrated geographical binding. IMM is a database with information on soil properties, classification affiliation of soils and soil cultivation. IMM also visualizes spatial changes of soil properties. At present the research work of the Laboratory is aimed at IMM extension according to peculiarities of the soil quality and soil cultivation under conditions of mountain territories. Keywords: soil-ecological studies, Central and Western Caucasus, soil biological properties, ecological assessment, interactive mapping model. DOI: 10.25791/intstg.08.2019.798 Contacts: E-mail: ecology_lab@mail.ru Pp. 79-90.