Ecological soil physics as section of ecological soil science
Authors: Gorban V. A. 
Published: February 2018

Nowadays, there is a general penetration of ecology in other related sciences. Soil science is not an exception. To the evidence of this, the works of soil scientists may serve, that have appeared recently. It is shown that the ecology of soil is a broader area of the genetic soil science, than ecological soil science. In addition to the doctrine of the ecological functions of soil, modern soil ecology also includes the factor ecology and the doctrine of biosphere soil conservation. In modern soil science there are 2 main areas – fundamental, which aims to study all the features of soil as a natural body, and applied that examines various aspects of soil use by man. At the same time it should be noted that most of soil scientists until recently isolated a genetic soil science in two main areas – the genesis and the geography of soils. Academician L. I. Prasolov (1978) was the first who proposed to allocate soil ecology in a separate section of soil science, along with the above directions. V. R. Volobuev (1963) hold on to the similar views. I. A. Sokolov (1993) showed that the section «Soil ecology» is equal to such sections of soil science as the «Genesis of the soil» and «Geography of the soil». N. A. Gorin (2005) hold on to the similar point of view. On this basis, we offer the following vision of the place of soil ecology in the structure of modern soil science. This scheme is based on the allocation of basic research in the areas of soil science by the team of authors under the leadership of the Moscow State University V. A. Kovda and B. G. Rozanov (Pochvovedenie, 1988). The classification of the historic area of soil science is identified with the genesis of soil by us, and pedography – with the geography of soil. The scientific achievements of other fundamental areas (pedognostika, dynamic soil science, regional soil science, history and methodology of science) are widely used to address key issues of historical soil science and pedography. The structure of the direction «Ecology of soil» is developed by academician G. V. Dobrovolsky and E. D. Nikitin (2012). This doctrine of the ecological functions of soil, classification by B. F. Aparin (2012) is a fundamental direction, the theoretical basis of ecological soil science, related to the applied directions. After L. O. Karpachevsky (2005), who considers the ecological functions of soil subject as ecological soil science, we identify the ecological soil science with the doctrine of the ecological functions of soil in some extent. This view is confirmed by the definition of ecological soil science, formulated G. V. Dobrovolsky and G. S. Kust (2012) – «This is a direction in modern soil science, studied the role of soil as a unique habitat of plants, animals, microorganisms, and especially – in human life, in the functioning of the biosphere and the individual ecosystems». From the above definition, it is clear that in this case, the authors believe that the core of ecological soil science is ecological functions of soil, which manifest themselves through their specific role in nature and human life. The subject of the study of ecological soil science, as indicated by L. O. Karpachevsky (2005), is the ecological functions of soil. Modern physics of soil – is the area of soil science that studies the physical properties of the soil and the place in which physical processes are flowing (Voronin, 1986). As you can see from the definition, the ecological functions of soil caused by the physical properties of soil, remain outside the field of soil physics research. For this reason, there is a need for the provision and the development of ecological soil physics, which is based on theoretical and practical achievements of classical physics of soil, and will also pay close attention to research the ecological functions of soil.