STRUCTURE OF FRUTICULOSE-GREEN MOSS SPRUCE FOREST

IN VICINITIES OF METALLURGICAL PLANT

T. Chernenkova

A.N.Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of Russian Academy of Sciences,

 Moscow, Russia 117071, Leninsky pr., 33

The researches were conducted in the vicinities of Monchegorsk metallurgical plant. Sample plots were laid on different distances from a source of pollution in  the major type of spruce forests and in identical ecotopes — in fruticulose-green moss spruce forest formed on humic-illuvial podzol and situated in the middle and upper parts of upland slopes. The increase of a level of a chemical load was accompanied by change of ecobiomorphic composition and structural organisation of coniferous woods. In "pure" conditions (Ni in A_o <250 ppm) coniferous forests represent communities with plants  of different living forms (evergreens and leaf-bearing trees, shrubs and shrublets, grasses, mosses and lichens), while under conditions of strong pollution (700-5000 ppm) the phytocenotic composition lacks coniferous trees, mosses and lichens, only several species of shrublets and grasses are preserved in the extremal conditions (> 5000 ppm).

Key Words: Kola Peninsula, spruce forests, vicinities of metallurgical plant, heavy metals