The structure and functions of the “Soil-Geographical Database of Russia Information System” (ISSGDBR) implemented on the platform of the Soil Science Faculty of the Lomonosov Moscow State University are considered. The current state of national soil databases and developing on that base international soil information systems are described. The created information system consists of three sections. The first section includes soil maps of different scales and maps of the natural conditions of the territory of the Russian Federation. The second section is represented by a natural-attribute database, which is based on a soil profile with associated analytical characteristics. In the third section, with the help of software tools, the collected varied information about the soil cover becomes the basis for modeling the spatial distribution of various indicators, performing calculations in applied projects for a wide range of users. The ISSGDBR is considered as an expert and analytical center, which acts as a coordinator and supports the functioning of a distributed network, as well as the development and distributing of internationally relevant standards for description, storage, presentation of soil information and data exchange through the use of specialized programs adapted to regional features. In addition, the purpose of the center is the implementation of communication between primary digital resources of natural and soil information localized in various organizations, agrochemical-service regional centers, and federal agencies accumulating information necessary for making managerial decisions.

Comprehensive morphological and mineralogical studies of atmospheric microparticles sampled on the roof of the museum complex and near roads in the town of Istra, Moscow region, have been carried out. Morphological research at different hierarchical levels revealed the multicomponent composition of microparticles and made it possible to identify the most characteristic groups of microparticles of natural and anthropogenic origin. The composition of the studied atmospheric microparticles is dominated by mineral grains of quartz and feldspars; biotite and calcite are singly noted, which reflects the ecological and geographical conditions of their formation, namely the Central Russian mineralogical province. A small share of technogenic particles in the composition of aerosol fallout indicates a low level of technogenic load and a favorable environmental situation in the study area, largely due to the protective functions of the forest park zone. The results of determining the material composition and calculating the enrichment factors also indicate a low level of technogenic impact on the natural environment.

In windthrow-affected areas, the research of biota is of high relevance taking into account the lack of knowledge about the dynamics of their flora, soil properties, and tree stand regeneration. An important task is to study the mechanisms of the natural dynamics of plant communities after major disturbances in large boreal forests. This paper was aimed to investigate the effects of a total windthrow event on the dynamics of biodiversity in pristine mid-boreal spruce (Picea abies) forests. The study was carried out in the Vodlozersky National Park (Northwest Russia: Arkhangelsk Region and Republic of Karelia), situated in the northern and middle taiga subzones. A series of permanent sample plots was established in an area affected by massive windthrow in 2000. The windthrow consequences of the forest communities have been studied, starting from the year of the event (2000) at 2–5-year intervals. A soil survey has been conducted in 2016. Windthrown trees, situated in the sample plots, were counted by species and diameter classes. Natural regeneration was estimated in subplots with a division to height cohorts and vitality status. Geobotanical relevé sampling of the ground vegetation has been conducted in 1 × 1-m permanent plots. Aphyllophoroid fungi (Basidiomycota) were counted by fruit bodies. Main soil pits and partial pits were dug. The morphological description of soils was produced in both undisturbed and disturbed sites in the study area. Obtained data, covering 20 years of surveys of various components of the forest plant communities (tree stand, advance regeneration, ground vegetation, wood-destroying fungi, soils), were analysed. We found that 16–20 years after the windthrow event the species and age structure of the tree stand has been considerably changed due to the forest stand rejuvenation. Post-windthrow regeneration of coniferous species in the true-moss group of forests has been successfully going on. By the end of the second decade after the windthrow event, cowberry spruce forests contained 4300 individuals/0.01 km2 of viable spruce regeneration, including 1500 individuals/0.01 km2 belonging to the large size category of spruce trees. In the bilberry-Sphagnum-type forest, spruce regeneration amounted to 8700 individuals/0.01 km2, including 2200 individuals/0.01 km2 belonging to the large size category of spruce trees. This amount is sufficient to ensure the development of spruce-dominated communities in the future. Since the forest ecosystems were recovering after the windthrow, the biodiversity of changed, that was reflected in an increase in the species composition of the ground vegetation and fungal communities. Over the study period (2001–2021), surveys of the sample plots demonstrated 83 aphyllophoroid fungi species, including five species included in the Red Data Book of the Republic of Karelia, as well as 22 taxa, considered old-growth forest indicator- and specialist species. The number of wood-destroying fungi species was the highest in the period from the 12th to the 19th post-windthrow years. The changes in soil properties on windthrow-affected sites were more explicit in the upper horizons: soil acidity decreased; both potassium and carbon content increased; nitrogen distribution across horizons became more even. An increase in the carbon-nitrogen ratio was detected in the Е and BF horizons. The obtained data can be used for predicting the regeneration of pristine mid-boreal spruce forests affected by catastrophic disturbances.

The soil cover inside the walls of the New Jerusalem Monastery (in the city of Istra, Moscow region) has been completely transformed during the long history of anthropogenic loads on the local landscape. Specific anthropogenic soils have been formed from the technogenic deposits on the top and slopes of the monastery hill. These soils contain numerous artifacts; in their upper part, horizons with characteristic features of the modern humus-accumulative process have been developed. The major types of anthropogenic soils on the territory of the monastery—urbiagrostratozems, soddy urbistratozems, and soddy-calcareous urbistratified soils—have been described. The composition of technogenic deposits determines the shift of pH values towards the alkaline reaction, the high content of available phosphorus compounds, and the soil contamination with heavy metals. The post-alluvial gray-humus soils close in their morphology and chemical properties to the natural soils of the floodplain predominate in the soil cover of the park zone adjacent to the walls of the monastery in the Istra River valley.

The New Jerusalem Monastery is one of the largest cultural and historical monuments of Russia. A long history of anthropogenic transformation of the landscape has also changed the properties of soils. The territory inside the monastery walls has been exposed to the greatest transformation. The soils outside the monastery in the valley of the Istra River have undergone less anthropogenic transformation. We identified the main types of soils, and characterized their morphological peculiarities, and physical and chemical properties. Urbic Technosols on technogenic sediments are described in the different types of land uses: near the cemetery from the 17th century, under the apple tree orchard, and on the grassplot near the south wall of the monastery. The results of the study can be used to restore the monastery and historical landscape.

The paper studies the soils of the New Jerusalem monastery complex, which covers a vast area in the Istra River valley and has been significantly changed since the foundation of the monastery (in 1656). The main types of anthropogenically transformed and natural soils are identified; their morphological peculiarities and physical and chemical properties are characterized. The regularities of the spatial soil distribution, which are determined by both natural and anthropogenic factors, are ascertained. The results of the study can be used in implementing the restoration of the monastery and reconstruction of the historical landscape.

The achievements, problems, and challenges of the modern stage of the development of the Soil-Geographic Database of Russia (SGDBR) and the history of this project are outlined. The structure of the information system of the SGDBR as an internet-based resource to collect data on soil profiles and to integrate the geographic and attribute databases on the same platform is described. The pilot project in Rostov oblast illustrates the inclusion of regional information in the SGDBR and its application for solving practical problems. For the first time in Russia, the GeoRSS standard based on the structured hypertext representation of the geographic and attribute information has been applied in the state system for the agromonitoring of agricultural lands in Rostov oblast and information exchange through the internet.