Abstract
The peculiarities of ecological state and biological activity of soils in old-growth logging areas (500–700 m above sea level) in the West Caucasus in comparison with the soils of background forests in the Caucasus Biosphere Reserve were revealed. Vegetation of the control forest is represented by beech-fir-tree-tiered dead-grass forest, in cuttings aged 40–50 and 90–110 years the vegetation is represented by aspen-hornbeam honeysuckle-grass and beech-fir-tree-hornbeam small-grass forests. In terms of climate, relief, soil-forming rocks, and granulometric composition, the studied Cambisols are similar in their characteristics. Significant changes in some chemical and biological indicators were revealed in the Cambisols of background forest and cuttings with late stages of regenerative succession. The values of the integral index of the biological state of Cambisols for cuttings of different age calculated according to 9 different indices are 100 and 98 % and significantly exceed the control values (77 %) of soils of the control forest. The reasons for this lie in the greater diversity and productivity of the vegetation ground cover, leading to the activation of biological processes in Cambisols.
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