Ecosystem Transformation (), 181-194

Assessing the degree of damage to birch stands in areas of airborne industrial pollution from copper smelter

Menshchikov S.L., Gorbunova V.D. 

The article presents the results of assessing vital conditions of forests and pollution levels in the area affected by the “Karabashmed” JSC using a silver birch as the bioindication species. Defoliation, discoloration, and damage indices of tree stands were measured, including the concentration coefficients and total content of heavy metals in birch leaves. It was shown that Cd, Pb, Zn, Ni, and Cu made the greatest contribution to pollution. The highest total content of heavy metals was detected in 1.5 km from the pollution source, while the lowest at a distance of 20 km. In most damaged (by emissions) birch stands, the total content of heavy metals reached 25.1; contamination was characterized as moderate. The obtained quantitative metal concentrations in leaves of silver birch can be applied in establishing threshold values under long-term exposure to metallurgical emissions.

S. L. Menshchikov
Botanical Garden of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
8 Marta St. 202a, Ekaterinburg, 620144 Russia


V. D. Gorbunova
Botanical Garden of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
8 Marta St. 202a, Ekaterinburg, 620144 Russia

botgarden.gor@yandex.ru

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