Anthropogenous influence of Norilsk industrial area on plant vegetation cover of the tundra and forest tundra

Abstract

The diversity of plant vegetation of the study area is represented by 17 associations, 9 alliances, 7 orders, and 6 classes. Geobotanic maps of the region are compiled for the first time using modern technology. The medium-scale mapping of natural vegetation has also been carried out. It is shown that the spatial structure of plant vegetation in the flat areas is mostly ordered structures-complexes and fewer disordered structures-combinations. In the western part of the territory, which had experienced a greater impact of humid climate of the Atlantic, a prominent role of subalpine meadows is noted. The eastern part of the region had always been under the influence of the cold Siberian anticyclone. Therefore, combinations with alders play the central role in the subalpine altitudinal zone; grass bogs and tundra-bog complexes are more important in the forest altitudinal zone. Anthropogenic changes of plant vegetation that had taken place due to the impact of emissions of Norilsk factories have been detected. Zones of strong, medium, and low anthropogenic impact and the stages of plant vegetation degradation are specified. The cartographic models of transformed plant vegetation help reveal the specifics of the spatial structure of the transformed plant vegetation depending on the elements of the relief. Because the emissions from the factories were regular, the impact of pollutants (hydrogen sulfide, in particular) on plant vegetation is constant. Plant vegetation dies without ever reaching the recovery stage. The impact of pollutants has proven to be an additional ecological factor that significantly changes the environment and creates new artificial ecosystems in which species diversity was greatly reduced among all systematic groups of higher and lower plants. It especially concerns slowly regenerating plants: mosses, lichens, some species of shrubs, dwarf shrubs, and trees. Thus, the natural restoration of plant vegetation is still impossible due to the high level of pollution. The anthropogenic factor plays the limiting role in the region.