MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. Experts of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Siberian Branch, participants in the biodiversity expedition, specified environmental impact zones in the areas where Nornickel's industrial enterprises are working. In Norilsk, the significant impact zone is not more than 10-15 kilometers and it is highly fragmented, the expedition's press service told TASS.
"We have specified boundaries of the plant's influence. The significant impact zone around the Norilsk Division does not exceed 10-15 kilometers," the press service quoted Director of the Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals (the Russian Academy of Sciences' Siberian Branch) Viktor Glupov as saying. "The zone is extremely fragmented, uneven, and the boundary is not a straight line, which explains this wide range. If we eye the energy division, its environmental impact zone is not more than three kilometers, and in certain locations even in one or two kilometers away everything is developing in line with the species diversity."
The expedition found that the Norilsk Nickel Company's enterprises had a significant impact on biological diversity within the area of 5-12 kilometers. Within such areas biodiversity indices change very quickly. The scientists confirmed Nornickel had set correctly the sanitary protection zones around its enterprises, and the enterprises' environmental impact turned out to be less than the experts had expected.
The expedition also found that animals' species diversity and numbers outside the significant impact zone do not depend directly on the distance from the industrial facilities. The scientists point to homogeneous changes in abundance and species in relative and less significant influence zones and they were comparable to the reference areas.
"It is impossible to identify the exact line of impact zones' boundaries. However, it is possible to distinguish a significant impact zone, which includes the sanitary protection zone and the territory beyond the sanitary protection zone by 1-1.5 km," the expedition materials read.
Animals in zones
During studies on the Kola Peninsula, the expedition participants found that small mouse-like rodents point clearly only to the significant impact zone, which is about 2-3 km from the sanitary protection zone. In some cases, it coincides with boundaries of territories around enterprises where soil and vegetation covers are partially disturbed.
"The further from the company's facilities - in the medium and insignificant impact zones - in forest-tundra and sparsely wooded landscapes with their low winter feeding and poor protective conditions, the more bird communities change - falling out are synanthropic (coexisting with humans) species and gulls, while hunting species tend to appear. That is, the bird community structure is changing," the experts said.
The expedition has found that the Krasnoyarsk and Lesosibirsk ports are located within the most urbanized areas of cities, and thus their surrounding ecosystems are exclusively anthropogenic. For this reason, the scientists could not see any special impact on birds in the port areas. It is unreasonable to identify indicator species, critical habitat areas or buffer zones, the experts said.
About expedition
The basic biodiversity survey continues the work, which the Norilsk Nickel Company (Nornickel) and the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Siberian Branch began in 2020. Since the Great Norilsk Expedition, this work has extended into another three regions - the Kola Peninsula, Krasnoyarsk and Trans-Baikal Regions. The survey’s purpose is to identify Nornickel’s impact zones and to assess biodiversity in areas of Nornickel’s operations. The research results will be used in building out a corporate biodiversity management system and biodiversity monitoring and conservation programs.
The expedition participants "have surveyed more than 73,000 square kilometers," Viktor Glupov said in conclusion. "We have been processing the (expedition) materials, and first publications are underway."
"The thing is that in those regions there have been very few studies of the kind, and they have been very fragmented, thus in some cases regarding certain groups of animals or plants we have received simply the newest data," he added.