Dynamics of the Industrial Transformation of Terrestrial Ecosystems in the Kola Subarctic

Abstract

Heavy metals and sulphur dioxide are the main pollutants of the Kola Subarctic. Soils are contaminated so that they have different chemical and biological properties from those of the zone soils at distances up to 25–30 km from the largest sources of chemical pollution. Chronic soil pollution by the emissions from the non-ferrous industry Severonikel has caused not only a decrease in the total number of microorganisms but also the destruction of the structure of the microbial community and the constriction of its species diversity. Homeostasis of microbial communities in podzol soil has been changed by concentrations of 300–400 mg/ kg copper and 600–700 mg/kg nickel. In the polluted soil the neutrophilic microbes disappear and a dominant position is taken by acid-tolerant organisms, mainly by soil fungi. Anthropogenic degradation of the soil is connected with the destruction of the normal activity of its living components, decreasing its mass and diversity. Taking this fact into account all methods of soil restoration must aim to increasing the activity of living microbial component of the soil and to save the polyfunctionality of its communities.