Abstract
The moss cover of forests in an 50×36 km area around the Middle-Ural Copper Smelter was analyzed after almost complete reduction of its emissions. It has been shown that the moss communities in the low and high pollution zones differ significantly in composition, number and frequency of species, but are characterized by a similar cover of ground mosses. The frequency of most species in the high pollution zones, compared to the low pollution zones, was decreased. A significant increase of the frequency in the pollution gradient was found for Pohlia nutans only. Species loss was expressed more strongly on the mesoscale (species richness within a community) than on the macroscale (the total number of species in a pollution zone). The elimination of species under increasing pollution was revealed for species with a low (up to 40%) initial frequency. Despite of the almost complete cessation of emissions from the smelter, the moss cover in the high pollution zones remains severely damaged and is formed by a single species (Pohlia nutans) over a significant area. However, localities with high species richness and high similarity of composition with the background communities occur even under high pollution conditions. The presence of such localities, in combination with a considerable time lag before the extinction of species from the study area as a whole, may have major significance for recolonization of degraded areas after emission reduction.
Highlights
The moss cover of forests in an 50×36 km area around the Middle-Ural Copper Smelter was analyzed after almost complete reduction of its emissions
It has been shown that the moss communities in the low and high pollution zones differ significantly in composition, number and frequency of species, but are characterized by a similar cover of ground mosses
A significant increase of the frequency in the pollution gradient was found for Pohlia nutans only
Summary
Поступила в редакцию 04.10.2020 г., после доработки 14.11.2020 г., принята 21.11.2020 г. Проанализировано состояние мохового покрова лесов в пределах территории 50×36 км вокруг Среднеуральского медеплавильного завода после практически полного прекращения выбросов. Деградация мохового покрова лесных экосистем в зоне действия металлургических заводов и высокая чувствительность к загрязнению большей части видов бриофитов продемонстрирована в ряде исследований (Лесные экосистемы..., 1990; Кабиров и др., 1992; Черненькова и др., 1995; Гольдберг, 1997; Ярмишко и др., 2009; Freedman, Hutchinson, 1980; Salemaa et al, 2001), однако большая их часть проведена в северных регионах. В то же время восстановление разнообразия и обилия некоторых других групп, например, растений травяно-кустарничкового яруса лесов, в зонах сильного загрязнения практически отсутствует (Воробейчик и др., 2014; Трубина, 2020), что отмечали и после сокращения выбросов других металлургических предприятий (Ярмишко и др., 2009; Черненькова и др., 2011). Эта гипотеза базируется на предположении, что высокая чувствительность мхов к загрязнению среды тяжелыми металлами (Лесные экосистемы..., 1990; Гольдберг, 1997; Freedman, Hutchinson, 1980; Salemaa et al, 2001), в сочетании с сохранением высоких концентраций металлов в подстилке и почве (Воробейчик, Кайгородова, 2017), продолжает существенно лимитировать восстановление мохового покрова
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