The article provides data on a comparative analysis of the features of vegetation restoration in areas of oligotrophic bogs with a high degree of oil product pollution, located on the territory of an oil field in the Middle Ob region, reclaimed according to standard schemes, widely used in the 2000s, and by cutting off oil-contaminated soil. The total projective vegetation cover (TPVC) of all reclaimed areas mostly reaches standard values (above 30%). The TPVC in areas without cutting is slightly higher than in areas with cutting due to the difference in recovery time in favor of the former. At the same time, the average number of all recorded species in areas with cutting is slightly higher, and they include some oligotrophic vascular plants (heather shrubs, Drosera rotundifolia, Eriophorum vaginatum), which spread much less frequently in areas without cutting. The projective cover of the herb-shrub layer is higher in areas without cutting. The content of oil products in the surface layer of 0-20 cm in areas with cutting is generally lower compared to areas reclaimed by traditional methods. However, even high concentrations (more than 250 g∙kg-1) do not have a significant negative effect on the total projective cover of the grass/herb-shrub layer, while its minimum values are primarily associated with a lack of moisture on high microrelief elements. Similarly, high concentrations of hydrocarbons do not serve as an obstacle to the development of moss cover dominated by sphagnum mosses in areas of cut-off hollows. At the same time, polytrichous and brown mosses were much more sensitive to oil pollution in the form of bitumen crust, and thus avoided areas without cutting.

Floodplain forage lands of the Pechora basin (Usinsky district of the Komi Republic) are experiencing a complex anthropogenic impact associated with both agricultural activity and pollution with petroleum products coming with flood waters. An ecological and agricultural assessment of the soil-vegetation cover of the Kolva floodplain used as hayfield (right-bank part) and pasture (left-bank part) was carried out. Soil combinations of the main part of the surveyed floodplain include alluvial sod, sod-meadow and meadow soils. Morphological signs of gley formation in meadow soils are observed in the lower part of the soil profile and are expressed moderately. Soils are characterized generally by favorable agrochemical and morphological properties, with the exception of areas subjected to pasture digression. The vegetation cover of the central and near-river part of the floodplain massif of the right bank is mainly represented by legume-cereal-grass communities formed both in inter-ridge depressions and on flat ridges. On the high floodplain of the left bank, legume-cereal-grass meadows, grass-clover and tufted hairgrass meadows are common, horsetail–butterbur, clover-cereal and cereal communities are common in the near-river part of the left bank. Despite the relatively high productivity and the presence of valuable forage species of cereals and legumes, the qualitative characteristics of hay deviate from optimal ones due to the participation of low-nutritious, unattractive, weedy and poisonous species in the herbage. On the pasture, as a result of pasture digression, there is a decrease in species diversity with the dominance of tufted hairgrass and low-value species of various grasses. In the most disturbed areas, the total projective vegetation coverage is reduced to 50%. The soil cover of the studied territory of the Kolva floodplain is currently not contaminated with hydrocarbons, with the exception of a few spots of petroleum products with a total area of 6 m2. The effect of oil pollution on the vegetation cover of the Kolva floodplain is not manifested. Background values of the content of petroleum products in soils are slightly higher in the left-bank part compared to the right-bank part.

One of the most valuable landscapes of the Krylatsky Hills Park are steppe meadows occupying the slopes of ravine-gully systems. In this work, we investigated the problem of the invasive spread of Manchurian walnut (Juglans mandshurica) in Krylatsky Hills Park, especially in areas of steppe meadows. Until the early 2000s, the species was not found in the park. In 2023, we discovered 125 specimens of Manchurian walnut in the park, measured their height and trunk diameter, and plotted the discovered specimens on a map. Most of the plant population is represented by plant undergrowth and young growth. Further intensification of invasion is possible due to the entry of plants into reproductive age, as well as warming and humidization of Moscow climate. Walnut may be one of the transforming species reducing the area of meadows. Among the positive phenomena associated with the spread of Manchurian walnut, the anti-erosion effect of afforestation of steep slopes of gully-beam systems can be considered.

At the end of the 20th century, a geoinformation database on soil degradation in Russia, relied on the soil map of Russia at a scale of 1 : 5 million, was developed under the leadership of V.S. Stolbovoy. As part of the development of this problem and in the course of obtaining new information on soil degradation, an attempt was made to refine and supplement this database, that relies on the soil map of the Russian Federation 1 : 2.5 million scale. Soil degradation resulted from the impact of various types of pollution was taken into account, including industrial emissions, leakage of oil products, excessive application of pesticides, the impact of vehicles and radiation pollution. Each soil polygon of the soil map exposed to the pollution was characterized by the degree and area of pollution in accordance with the developed scales. The results of the analysis were used to construct cartograms illustrating the spatial distribution of chemical and radiation degradation of the country soils. According to the data obtained, in the zone of pollution derived from industrial enterprises and oil pollution, 20% of the soil-geographic polygons of the map are characterized by a strong degree of pollution, and 30% and 50% – by weak and medium, respectively. Agricultural pollution due to excessive use of plant protection products in Russia does not exceed 10% of the area of polygons and is characterized by a low degree. About 10% of the soil polygons of the basic soil map are heavily contaminated with radioactive contamination, while 40% and 50% of the polygons are moderately and weakly contaminated, respectively. Pollution from vehicles is weak and generally has low level. At the same time, megacities and highways with heavy traffic are distinguished by relatively high level of pollution.

Peat soils of the taiga zone of West Siberia have historically been relatively poorly studied. In the diagnostics of peat soils, the question of the belonging of the sphagnum litter horizon to the soil profile, as well as the identification of its lower boundary, remains unresolved. In the WRB and Russian Soil Classification, sphagnum litter is considered as a vegetation cover, while in the Soviet classification it is considered as an integral part of the soil profile. The last point of view is also shared by the majority of Russian researchers. Using the material obtained in the study of peat soils in the basin of the river Kazym (subzone of the northern taiga, West Siberia), a comparative characteristic of the sphagnum litter horizon (0–20 cm) and the underlying peat horizon (20–50 cm) was carried out using three parameters: the botanical composition of peat, the degree of peat decomposition, and the color of the soil. All soils are differentiated into the litter horizon and the peat horizon by at least one parameter (5% of the profiles), but in 71% of cases, by three at once. The degree of profile differentiation into two horizons tends to increase in a series of soils formed, respectively, in oligotrophic pine-shrub-sphagnum, oligotrophic complex ridge-hollow, and mesotrophic biogeocenoses. In the overwhelming majority of oligotrophic peat soils, the transition from the litter horizon to the peat horizon is gradual, which does not allow a reproducible assessment of the boundary position in the soil profile. It is proposed to establish a fixed border of the litter horizon at 20 cm from the surface of the bog, referring it to the surface horizon of peat soil.

The problem of pedo- and biodiversity of mire ecosystems under the long-term multiple anthropogenic impact was studied in one of the most intensively technogenically transformed areas of Shaturskaya Meshchera, adjacent to power station Shaturskaya in the north and stretching along the route Kerva – Dolgusha – Severnaya Griva. For more than a hundred years, mires in the Shatura area have been under the influence of drainage, peat extraction, fires, attempts to create agricultural land, secondary watering and pollution, resulting from the power station, transport, and settlements wastewaters. Currently, the bio- and soil diversity of secondary ecosystems has increased significantly compared to undisturbed mires. Instead of bog, in some cases there appeared secondary meadow, grass-shrub communities, small-leaved forests, and dry sparse areas. The remaining bogs experience stable eutrophication, which leads to the formation of mesotrophic and eutrophic phytocenoses and, accordingly, peat mesotrophic and oligotrophic secondary eutrophic soils. In addition, the proportion of eutrophic mires is slightly increased by the peat formation in shallow lakes, which at the initial stage of peat extraction were used for storing wood waste. The phenomenon of secondary oligotrophization of the disturbed bogs of Meshchera, noted in the literature, is not observed in the area under consideration due to a significant anthropogenic load. To preserve the local flora of oligotrophic bogs, marginal areas of flooded quarries and cofferdams with undeveloped peat deposits are of great importance. The increase in pedodiversity was facilitated by the agricultural development of drained peatlands for the cultivation of perennial grasses, which resulted in the formation of torfozems and agrotorfyano-gleyzems.

The soil cover of mire plains is traditionally considered as fairly homogeneous, which is largely due to the difficulties of the systematics of peat soils in the modern Russian soil classification system. This article aims to analyze some characteristics of the soil cover patterns (soil cover composition, distribution of its components by classes of combinations and their association with mire biogeocenoses) of the northern taiga mire plain lying to the north of the Sibirskie Uvaly Ridge in the basin of the Kazym River, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra. Soil maps of 34 key sites with a total area of 595.86 ha have been compiled on a scale of 1 : 5000. Overall, 33 soil mapping units are identified, including 30 units of different peat soils. Taiga soils are represented by iron-illuvial podzols and their combinations with gley soils. Thus, the main contribution to pedodiversity is provided by mire landscapes. The soil cover pattern of oligotrophic string bogs consists of low-contrasting combinations of oligotrophic peat soils differing in their thickness and the botanical composition of peat. In the areas of string bogs with water pools (lakes), low-contrasting combinations of oligotrophic peat soils differing in their botanical composition and contrasting combinations (complexes) of these soils with oligotrophic wet regressive peat soils of flarks. The importance of distinguishing between the soils of these combinations is related to different rates of the organic matter mineralization in them. Mesotrophic peat soils of key sites mainly compose individual elementary soil areas. In comparison with oligotrophic peat soils, they display a higher pedodiversity related to the botanical composition, degree of decomposition, and thickness of the peat layer. At the same time, the widespread distribution of complexes of oligotrophic and mesotrophic peat soils in the aapa mires, which was supposed in the 1980s, has not been confirmed; such complexes occupy 5.34% of the total mapped area.

In recent years, the spread of Sosnowskyi’s hogweed (Heracleum sosnowskyi Manden.) has expanded significantly both in Russia and abroad, leading to the need to develop reliable methods of monitoring areas of its growth. For these purposes, the feasibility of detecting Sosnowskyi’s hogweed by means of land surveys conducted by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been investigated. The research was carried out on a 70-hectare test key plot in Tver oblast, where Sosnowskyi’s hogweed grows in small batches on abandoned plots near arable fields. The area was photographed on June 30, 2021, during the hogweed’s flowering stage, from a height of 100 m using a DJI Matrice 200 UAV equipped with a Zenmuse X4S gyro-stabilized visible spectral range camera. The resulting color image was split into three channels (R, G, and B). After that, several supervised classifications were performed in order to identify hogweed inflorescences and leaves. Combining the inflorescence and leaf maps resulted in a map of hogweed distribution in the study area. Its accuracy was assessed by a classification error matrix and was found to be over 95%. Therefore, Sosnowskyi’s hogweed plants can be successfully automatically detected using images taken by a UAV with a standard camera during the plants’ flowering stage. In contrast to satellite imagery, in this case the detection algorithm is individual for each UAV image mosaic. The individuality is determined by the specifics of imaging, the type of land cover of the study area (especially the vegetation cover), and the hogweed’s phenophase at the time of survey. The developed algorithm cannot be used on other territories without adaptation. Detection accuracy can be improved by choosing an optimal time for the survey or by using multitemporal images.

Despite the widespread use of the taxon “mesotrophic (transitional) peat soils” in the present-day Russian and foreign pedology, including some fundamental publications in this field, its diagnostic features are still uncertain, and this taxon is not included in the recent classification of Russian soils. The proposed criteria based on botanical features—botanical composition of peat soils and indicator plants—will allow separating mesotrophic type from eutrophic and oligotrophic types of peat soils. Special attention is paid to the distinction between mesotrophic and oligotrophic peat soils in accordance with the specific features of mires in northern West Siberia. Among 32 peat soil profiles studied in the Numto Nature Park, 19 profiles were classified as mesotrophic peat soils and 13 profiles, as oligotrophic soils. Owing to the spatial and temporal dynamics of vegetation in large- and flat-topped mound peat complexes, the soils of their hollows (flarks) were in most cases assigned to the oligotrophic type. The soils of aapa mires, as well as mires on low alluvial terraces, river floodplains, and runoff hollows dissecting slopes of the Sibirskie Uvaly Ridge were mainly classified as mesotrophic peat soils.

Стагнация сельскохозяйственной отрасли России на протяжении последних десятилетий в ряде регионов привела к прогрессирующему росту площадей забрасываемых земель.Во многих областях Северной Евразии на залежных землях происходит внедрение инвазивных видов, вносящих определенные коррективы в сукцессионные процессы, характерные для региональных ландшафтов.С использованием архива спутниковых данных Landsat проведен анализ многолетней динамики ареалов инвазивных видов золотарника на землях в центре европейской части России.Установлено, что во многих случаях ареалы золотарника концентрируются вдоль границ между административными районами, что связано со спецификой аграрной активности и забрасывания пахотных земель.На географию золотарника влияют и особенности почвенного покрова

A digital version of the soil map of the Russian Federation, scale 1 : 2.5 M, is being prepared based on the analysis of the attributes of polygons with peat soils in the West-Siberian taiga and sub-taiga zones. The correction was perfomed in 795 polygons (with the total area of 179 483 km2) out of 1 711 polygons considered (with the total area of 262 204 km2). The currently formulated idea of the dominance of oligotrophic bogs in the West Siberian taiga region of mires served as the basis for suggestion to replace the mesotrophic peat soils by oligotrophic ones in 598 polygons of the total area of 87 250 km2. Similarly, the polygons of microcatenas comprising oligotrophic and mesotrophic peat soils (57 polygons, total area of 38 405 km2) were modified: only oligotrophic peat soils were considered to be the dominant ones there. At the same time, a number of polygons with prevailing oligotrophic soils, confined mainly to the sub-taiga zone were proposed to be replaced by polygons with mesotrophic peat soils. The thermokarst pools in ridge-hollow mire complexes that were shown on the soil map of Russia beyond the permafrost zone were eliminated from the map database; the mapping of destructive peat soils was rearranged in accordance with the new interpretation of this taxon in the Russian soil classification. This work should improve the quality of research in the field of assessing the resource potential of peat soils in West Siberia.

The process of natural remediation of oil- and soil-contaminated raised bogs reclaimed 14–16 years ago in Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug–Yugra (KHMAO–Yugra) is analyzed. Revegetation is generally successful, although mesophytic grasses sown during reclamation almost completely disappeared in the grass stand. There is a gradual desalination of peat soil in salt-contaminated areas; it is accompanied by a succession change of halophytic (hemihalophytic) vegetation by communities that dominated by Calamagrostis epigeios, Eriophorum angustifolium, and Phragmites australis; a certain contribution is also made by sphagnum, green mosses, and liverworts. A characteristic feature of these habitats is the colonizing by a number of rare protected species (Heterogemma laxa, Thelypteris palustris, and Triglochin maritimum). In oil-contaminated bogs, hydrocarbons often enter from the underlying peat soil horizons during revegetation, resulting in the formation of a surface crust. Under these conditions, grass–sedge–cotton-grass and other communities are replaced by grass stands of Eriophorum angustifolium and some other species with strong root systems. A certain role in the overgrowth of crusted surfaces is also played by mosses (Sphagnum riparium, Warnstorfia fluitans, etc.). Unsuccessful restoration is observed in hollows with restricted runoff for salt-contaminated bogs and in most significantly drained segments for oil-contaminated ones.

A laboratory study of the solid phase of saline peats by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis has revealed the presence of organic halogen compounds. Cl-organic compounds were found in one-third of peat samples; however, their proportion was low: 14–15% of the total chlorine content. In contrast, Br-organic compounds are formed more often and the Br org proportion is higher (from 12 to 23% of total Br). The relatively weak development of the halogenation of organic matter in the saline peatlands is explained by recovery conditions that prevent the synthesis of organic halogen compounds. An X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) of the ash of saline peatlands has revealed four main minerals: halite, quartz, calcite, and gypsum. Halite absolutely prevails in low-ash peatlands. The XRD confirms the salinity of peatlands and gives the quantitative content of three minerals: halite, quartz, and calcite. However, analysis of peat ash may involve errors both due to the growth of minerals (gypsum) and due to the incomplete identification of the number of phases in high-ash peat samples. The second type of error can be corrected using data on the chlorine content in peat ash by X-ray fluorescence analysis. In addition to the construction of profiles of salt distribution in solution, it is necessary to determine the amount and composition of organic halogen compounds (some of them have herbicide properties) for characterizing the contamination of peatlands.

The last map of anthropogenic soil erosion in Russia was compiled more than 20 years ago on a scale of 1 : 5 000 000. In recent years, additional data on soil erosion have been accumulated. New mapping approaches have appeared that enable us to present more detailed digital data at the country level. The geometric part of the Unified State Register of Soil Resources of Russia (on the initial scale of 1 : 2 500 000) (USRSRR) was used as the basis for map updating. Information on soil erosion was read from the old erosion map for each delineated soil area of the USRSRR. Then it was expertly analyzed and corrected, using the data on soil properties in each soil mapping unit. After that, the information on anthropogenic soil erosion was corrected based on the soil plowing map of Russia and the map of pastures. At the last stage, additional data obtained over the past twenty-year period were entered into the database. The updated map is presented in a GIS format (shapefile). The map contains information on the distribution of soils disturbed as a result of water and anthropogenic erosion.

On the basis of the review of available literature sources, the approaches to the systematics of peat soils in different soil classifications systems (Russian, German, FAO-UNESCO, WRB, and Soil Taxonomy) are discussed and compared with the landscape-based classifications of boreal mires. Among the diagnostic criteria, the most important in the systematics of peat soils and peatlands are the peat thickness, trophic status as the availability of nutrients and as a botanical concept, and acidity (pH) of peat and peat waters. The following suggestions are made: (a) to establish the peat thickness ≥30 cm as a criterion for peat soils, (b) to exclude the contents of nutrients in the peat from the diagnostic scheme for peat soils, and (c) to develop this scheme on the basis of geobotanical indicators. The latter may include active peat-forming plants, as well as plant species settling on the regressive mires under conditions of a cessation or drastic slowdown of peat accumulation. It is also recommended that the type of mesotrophic peat soils should be added to the Russian soil classification system and that the subtype of wet regressive soils should be distinguished within the oligotrophic type of peat soils along with the existing subtype of destructive soils.