Development of the concept of the ecological functions of the soil cover and other geospheres

The concept of the ecological functions of soils and geospheres is discussed, and soil functions in biogeocenoses and in society-nature systems are analyzed. The major ecological functions of the interrelated surface spheres of the Earth are specified. Urgent problems of the further development of the theory of ecological functions of soils and geospheres are discussed. It is argued that the study of ecological soil functions is particularly important in the context of the soil conservation policy. The system of soil conservation and preservation of pedodiversity is one of the key issues in nature management. Considerable attention has been paid to this problem in Russia. A series of Red Data soil books for the particular regions of Russia and for the entire country have been published in the recent decades.