The laboratory, as well as the Institute, has had a rather complicated history for more than 50 years. Under the influence of external circumstances, the Institution and its structure changed. Simultaneously with the change of the Institute, the laboratory and its composition changed. However, the profile of the laboratory, close to the biogeochemical one, remained dominant at all times. 

The foundations of the laboratory were laid simultaneously with the establishment of the Institute and the scientific direction was formed under the influence of the ideas of the corresponding member. USSR Academy of Sciences, Director of the Institute of Agrochemistry and Soil Science V.A. Kovdy. The laboratory began with a group of soil nutrient regime, which was organized by V.N. Kudeyarov in April 1969 as part of the Department of Soil Science of the Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The group was transformed into a laboratory status at the end of 1970 simultaneously with the approval of the Institute of Agrochemistry and Soil Science of the USSR Academy of Sciences. 

The main task of the laboratory was to study the agrogeochemical nitrogen cycle, including studies of the transformation processes of organic and mineral nitrogen compounds in soils, as well as the effect of nitrogen fertilizers on these processes. 

V. A. Kovda, from the very first steps of founding the laboratory, set the task of studying the side effects of the use of mineral fertilizers for the environment. A significant stage of this work ended with the publication of a monograph edited by V.A. Kovda "Environmental problems of the use of mineral fertilizers" (V.N. Kudeyarov, V.N. Bashkin, A.Y. Kudeyarova, A.N. Bochkarev, Nauka Publishing House, 1984). This book was the first in Russian devoted to this problem. The analysis of the agrobiogeochemical cycle of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in specific agricultural landscapes under conditions of irrigation and non-irrigation agriculture was carried out. 

In 1982, the Institute of Agrochemistry and Soil Science and the Institute of Photosynthesis merged into the Institute of Soil Science and Photosynthesis (IPFS). The laboratory was transformed into a research group, but the scientific directions laid down in the laboratory of the nutrient regime of soils continued to develop in other divisions of the IPFS. 

With the arrival in 1988 of the new director of the IPFS, Prof. V.I. Kefeli, the structure of the Institute changed, and new laboratories were formed. The process of forming new laboratories was very democratic. All leading researchers were given the right to propose their own scientific direction and form a laboratory. The concept of soil nitrogen and carbon cycles proposed by V.N. Kudeyarov for the laboratory attracted both former employees of the laboratory of soil nutrient regime and young employees from other departments. As a result, a new laboratory for soil nitrogen and carbon cycles was formed. 

In 2000, the Institute of Physico-Chemical and Biological Problems of Soil Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IFHiBPPRAN) was organized on the basis of the Department of Soil Science of the IPFS and the laboratory of soil cycles of nitrogen and carbon became part of the structure of the new institute. The laboratory continued to develop successfully, and the scientific qualifications of the staff grew. 

Over the years, some employees have left the laboratory for various reasons, but they have been replaced by new people, including young specialists. The main scientific core of doctors of sciences (V.N. Kudeyarov, N.D. Ananyeva, V.M. Semenov, I.N. Kurganova) are successfully working at the present time.

THE COMPOSITION OF THE LABORATORY

Head of the laboratory – Dr. of sciences I.N. Kurganova