A century of pollution in the boreal forest

Abstract

Forest Decline The environs of Norilsk, in northern Siberia, are among the most heavily polluted in the world as a result of the effects of decades of heavy metal production and sulfur dioxide emissions. Kirdyanov et al. reveal the extent of pollutant effects on the boreal forests of the region through a study of tree-ring patterns in larch and spruce from sites along a 200-kilometer transect on either side of Norilsk. Their results document tree growth rates before the onset of industrialization in the region in the 1930s and show the trajectory of subsequent decline in growth rates that eventually led to dieback of entire forest stands. These effects fit into a wider picture of increasing pollution from multiple sources across the wider boreal and arctic region. Ecol. Lett. 10.1111/ele.13611 (2020).