Current State of Forest Moss Communities after Reduction of Emissions from the Middle-Ural Copper Smelter

• Published in: Biology bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vol. 48; no. 10; pp. 1924 - 1931
• Main Authors: Trubina, M. R., Dyachenko, A. P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-12-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell Biology; Copper; Ecology; Emissions; Life Sciences; Mosses; Pohlia nutans; Pollution; Smelters; Species composition; Species richness; Zoology; mosses; diversity; occurrence; pollution; composition; heavy metals
• ISSN: 1062-3590; 1608-3059
• DOI: 10.1134/S1062359021100265

—The moss cover of forests in a 50 × 36 km area around the Middle-Ural Copper Smelter after the almost complete cessation of its emissions is analyzed. It is shown that moss communities in the low and high pollution zones differ significantly in the composition, number, and occurrence of species and, at the same time, are characterized by a similar cover of ground mosses. The occurrence of most species is lower in the high pollution zones than in the low pollution zones. A significant increase in the occurrence along the pollution gradient has been recorded only for
Pohlia nutans.
Species loss was more significant 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 with an increase in pollution has been recorded for species with a low (up to 40%) initial occurrence. Despite the almost complete cessation of emissions from the smelter, the forest moss cover remains very damaged in the high pollution zones and is represented by a single species (
Pohlia nutans
) over a considerable area. However, localities that are characterized by a higher species richness and a higher similarity of species composition with the background communities occur even under heavy pollution conditions. The presence of these localities, combined with a considerable time lag before the disappearance of species from the whole study area, may have a significant value for recolonization of degraded areas after emission reduction.