(Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii) in the Impact Zone
of a Copper
Nickel Smelter in the Period of Significant Reduction of Emissions: The Results of 15-Year Monitoring
V. E. Zverev
University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland
e-mail: vitzve@utu.fi
Received May 7, 2008
Abstract—Long-term monitoring of mountain birch populations (1992–2006) was performed in 14 test plots
located at distances of 1 to 63 km from the copper–nickel smelter in Monchegorsk (Murmansk oblast) and dif-
fering in the degree of disturbance. In the period from 1999 to 2006, atmospheric emissions of sulfur dioxide
and heavy metals amounted to only one-third of those between 1992 and 1998, but birch mortality in heavily
polluted areas (with nickel concentrations in leaves exceeding 160 mg/kg) remained at the same level, being
absent (as previously) in less polluted areas. Throughout the observation period, birch recruitment was observed
only in areas where nickel concentrations in the leaves were below 160 mg/kg; i.e., this concentration proved
to be the threshold with respect to both mortality and recruitment of mountain birch. The course of demographic
processes in its populations has remained unchanged after the reduction of emissions, confirming the hypothe-
sis of the “inertial” effect of industrial emissions on ecosystems. In some areas of industrial barrens, mountain
birch may perish completely within the next decade.
DOI: 10.1134/S1067413609040055
Key words: heavy metals, mountain birch, mortality, recruitment, industrial pollution, northern taiga.
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