Rendzinas of the Russian Northwest: Diversity, Genesis, and Ecosystem Functions: A Review

Abstract

Rendzinas in the taiga zone are intrazonal soils; moreover, all of their processes occur in ways that are different from podzolic soil formation, which is typical for the zonal taiga boreal ecosystem. At the same time, the habitats of carbonate soils are known as places in which there is a concentration of biodiversity in the more southern regions, as they are drier, are insolated, and have a higher trophic state than zonal podzols. The biotopes on carbonate soils are becoming more southern and are dominated by nemoralis species of flora, including abundant calciphilous plant species. Carbonate soils regulate biogeochemical processes within their distribution and in the geochemically subordinate landscapes of Northwest Russia. They are associated with the existence of a number of specially protected natural areas, as well as the implementation of a number of important ecosystem services. Carbonate soils of the southern taiga are endangered and require special protection. The belt of the carbonate soils in the northwestern Russian and Baltic regions extends to Poland and is the basis for the formation of a special landscape–ecological framework with specific biodiverse, biogeochemical, and geographical characteristics. The intensive extraction of limestone from quarries leads to the destruction of rendzinas, which makes them increasingly rare and extremely vulnerable. The rate of recovery of rendzina soils after technogenic impacts is much slower than the regeneration of zonal podzols; therefore, they are an almost non-renewable resource. Thus, rendzinas are an important component of the Northwest Russian soil cover, where all factors of soil formation “refract” and acquire specificity, leading to radical changes not only in the soil-forming potential of the environment but in all of the components of terrestrial ecosystems. In other words, the island of alkaline rocks inherited from the ancient seas is currently pedogeochemically actualized in the soil cover of vast taiga areas.