Prior to the mid-1980s, very little forest damage research related to
airborne pollutants had been conducted in Finnish Lapland and what
there was was of non-uniform character (Tikkanen 1989, 1991). This
state of affairs was partly explained by the general conception of Finnish
Lapland as an unpolluted region and of its forests as being healthy and
vigorous. As a thought-to-be pollution-free background area, Lapland
found use mainly as a source of control material for environmental
studies conducted elsewhere. Air quality measurements were attended to
at national stations located in Sodankylä and Kevo (Utsjoki) where data
was collected on the quality of background air.
It was in connection with the national acidification research project HAPRO
(an acronym derived from the programme's name in Finnish meaning The Finnish
Acidification Research Programme) in 1985 that the Finnish Forest Research Institute
(METLA) launched a project called ILME (an
acronym derived from the project's name in Finnish meaning The Effect of Air
Pollution on Forest Ecosystems) delving into the impact of airborne pollutants
on forests. A network of more than 3 000 permanent sample plots was established
during the years 1985 and 1986 in connection with the 8th
national forest inventory to enable the vitality and state of health of
Finnish forests to be monitored. Based on systematic sampling, this network
was made less dense in Lapland (as it was believed to be less polluted than
the rest of the country) than in southern and central Finland.
Research looking into forest vitality and their state of health in Lapland
was stepped up after the mid-1980s. In 1986, around 390 permanent
forest-stand sample plots were established in Finnish Lapland to meet
the requirements of the ILME project. These sample plots are mainly
located in pine stands. Some of them are intended for what may be called
extensive research while others are for intensive research. Measurements
and observations made on the intensive level sample plots are repeated
annually; on the extensive level plots this is done every five years.
Assessments done on these sample plots include, for instance,
assessment of relative defoliation.
The annually repeated assessment of forest vitality during the years 1986-1989
revealed that Lapland's most severely defoliated pines were located in northernmost
Lapland, around Inari (Fig. 2) (Jukola-Sulonen
et al. 1993). The loss of needles by these trees increased by 10 percent points
during the four year monitoring period. Needle loss increased with increasing
tree age. In addition to being influenced by tree age and the northern location,
needle loss by Scots pine in the Inari region of Finnish Lapland was also believed
to be influenced by sulphur and heavy metal deposition originating from the
Kola Peninsula.
Northern Finland's forests provided the setting for an unexpected phenomenon
in the early weeks of the summer of 1987. In numerous stands located on peatland
sites and sorted, nutrient-poor heathland mineral soil sites, conifers of varying
ages began to shed their needles prematurely. The shedding started from the
oldest year classes of needles and advanced to the younger shoots. At first
the afflicted needles turned yellow, and then, prior to being shed, brown. This
damage was at its worst in Scots pine (Fig.
3).
Research into the causes of the premature needle shedding showed
that the afflicted pines were suffering from disturbances in their nutrient
and water status. Needle analyses showed that the afflicted trees
translocated mobile nutrients from their old needles abnormally early to
their juvenile, meristematic parts (Tikkanen & Raitio 1990a, 1990b,
1990/91, 1993). However, the afflicted trees' contents of nutrients that
plants are unable to translocate were lower in the youngest shoots of the
afflicted trees than in healthy trees and in trees in control areas.
The disturbances in the nutrient status of the trees were found to be
caused by root injuries, since the results of soil analyses conducted in
the study areas showed that the nutrient levels in the soil were equal to
the average of equivalent sites. The primary cause of root damage was in
the exceptional weather conditions of the years 1986 and 1987. The
needle loss situation was at its worst in southern Lapland and Kainuu -
regions where the above-average warm and rainy autumn of 1986 was
followed by a steep fall in temperature in early December. Severe frosts
froze up the almost snowless ground rapidly and to a great depth. Even
in January 1987 the cover of snow was 20-30 cm below the average for
that time of the year.
The role of weather in the occurrence of the damage
was further supported by the observation that roots are more susceptible
to injury due to low temperatures than shoots and that the hardening of
roots in preparation for winter begins later. Snow is important for roots
in that it provides an insulating layer against low temperatures. This is
especially so on nutrient-poor, lichen-dominated heathland forest sites,
where the humus layer and the lichen layer are thin (the thinness of the
latter being due to grazing by reindeer). In addition to being influenced
by weather factors, the ability of trees to withstand external stresses may
have been affected by airborne pollutants. Among other effects, these are
known to cause discoloration of needles and their premature shedding.
In 1988, damaged stands of Scots pine were found in Salla, eastern Lapland,
and along the Finno-Russian border. This damage was at its severest along the
border zone and in the localities Rikkilehto and Lautakotaoja (both in Salla).
The pines were discovered to be damaged by the Scleroderris canker (Gremmeniella
abietina) (Fig. 4). The stands afflicted
by this fungus pest were concentrated alongside watercourses and other low-lying
places on the plateau bearing Scots pine (Kaitera & Jalkanen 1992).
Due to military policy reasons, the Kola Peninsula in north-western Russia
was an out-of-bounds region to foreigners for decades. The immense scale of
the damage to the environment around the industrial centres of Nikel and Zapolyarnyy
in the north-west and Monchegorsk in the central part of the Kola Peninsula
was revealed to Finns as recently as in the late 1980s. The nickel and copper
smelters established over fifty years ago in these industrial centres (Pechenganikel
in Nikel and Zapolyarnyy and Severonikel in Monchegorsk) have caused marked
loading of the environment and unparalleled damage to the forest ecosystems
of the region (Fig. 5).
Immense emissions of sulphur dioxide and heavy metals have completely destroyed
the vegetation over vast areas and erosion has removed the soil overlying the
bedrock (Fig. 6). Russian scientists estimate
that industrial deserts, entirely or almost entirely void of vegetation, surrounding
the smelter towns cover several hundreds of square kilometres (Kryuchkov 1991,
1993).
The northern
location of the afflicted areas has increased the susceptibility of the local
ecosystems to the detrimental effects of airborne pollutants.
A report published in 1989 on the state of the environment in the then
Soviet Union mentions the Kola Peninsula among the eight most
seriously polluted eco-catastrophe areas (Report on...1988). Some idea as
to the amount of emissions of pollutants from the Kola Peninsula was
obtained by Western scientists in connection with a joint-Nordic
monitoring study conducted in the mid-1980s on heavy metals in mosses
(Rühling et al. 1987). Similar observations were made in the late 1980s
in the course of the aforementioned HAPRO project and in studies
conducted by the Lapland Water and Environment District focusing on
the acidification of watercourses in Finnish Lapland and in the Kola
Peninsula (Kauppi et al. 1990, Kenttämies 1991, Kinnunen 1990, 1992).
The signs of forest damage observed in Finnish Lapland in the late
1980s, and the information made available on the emissions of
pollutants from the Kola Peninsula and the damage to that region's
environment, gave rise to suspect some link between them. The
conception of an unpolluted Lapland and of its healthy, vigorous forests
began to crumble. Forest owners in eastern Finnish Lapland fearing
increment losses and other concerned citizens commenced to express
demands for stepping up of forest damage studies and air quality
measurements in Lapland. The news media were also increasingly
vociferous as they joined in these demands.
In May, 1989, the Finnish Forest Research Institute (METLA) invited
representatives of Finnish universities and research institutes to the
METLA's Vantaa Research Centre to contribute ideas as to the stepping
up of air-pollution-related forest damage research in Finnish Lapland. In
addition to the METLA's own representatives, this meeting was attended
by researchers from the Universities of Helsinki and Oulu, the Finnish
Meteorological Institute, the Geological Survey of Finland, and the
Lapland Water and Environment District. This meeting founded the five-
year (1990-1994) Lapland Forest Damage Project and appointed the
project a planning group and a project manager. Planning work for the
project was commenced following the granting of a planning
appropriation sum of 100 000 Finnish markkas by the Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry.
At the time the Lapland Forest Damage Project was launched, the
HAPRO project had already come to its conclusion and the work of
another research project SILMU (an acronym derived from the Finnish
name of the research programme meaning The Finnish Research
Programme on Climate Change) had not yet begun. This being the case,
the Forest Damage Project had at its disposal some of the best Finnish
resources in the field of environmental research.
Up until the late 1980s, the information available on the environmental
research conducted in the Kola Peninsula was far from comprehensive.
Among the earliest pieces of first-hand knowledge of this work was that
provided by the Russian scientists who participated in an environmental
seminar in Rovaniemi in 1988 (Kinnunen & Varmola 1990). It was not
until the Lapland Forest Damage Project was launched that tangible
research co-operation between Finnish and Russian scientists - forest
researchers employed in the Kola Peninsula - began.
The first researcher visits from Finland to the problem areas in the Kola
Peninsula took place in 1989. This was followed by the forming of contacts with
the Kola Science Centre based in Apatity and research co- operation was commenced
with the recently founded Institute of North Industrial Ecology Problems and
researchers employed at this institute's Laboratory of Terrestial Ecosystems.
Subsequently, the sphere of co- operation has been joined in by researchers
from the Archangel Forest Research Institute's Monchegorsk Research Station
and the Laplandia Nature Reserve (Fig. 7).
These forms of co-operation have made it possible for Finnish researchers to
work and collect material in Russian territory. Likewise, Russian researchers
have made excursions into Finnish Lapland to collect material for their studies.
In addition, they have worked at Finnish research institutes and participated
in relevant environmental meetings and congresses held in Finland. Finns have
also promoted the practice of joint publications with Russian researchers (Tikkanen
& Varmola 1991, Tikkanen et al. 1992, Derome 1993).
Assessment of the damaged areas in the Kola Peninsula began with
the interpretation of satellite imagery. The impact of pollutant emissions
on the region's forests commenced with studies looking into stress and
damage symptoms in conifer needles, their chemical composition and
frost-hardiness, the biochemistry and occurrence of the Scleroderris
canker, the occurrence, functioning and structure of lichens on the
stems and branches of trees, the litter on the forest floor, the chemical
composition of bark and mosses, the soil and percolating water, soil
microbiology, and the roots and growth of Scots pine. Three new
subprojects were established during the years 1990-1992. These
addressed the issues of air quality and deposition, and the influence that
the lichen layer has on the soil and the frost-hardiness of Scots pine
roots. All sixteen subprojects were appointed a responsible researcher.
The principal goal of the Lapland Forest Damage Project was to study the
impact that pollutant emissions from the Kola Peninsula were believed to
have on the forests of Finnish Lapland. Alongside this endeavour, there
was the aim of producing basic scientific knowledge about Lapland's
forest ecosystems and the changes taking place in them. Further goals
included the pinpointing and delimiting of damaged areas in Russian
territory; at the time when the project was launched, the information
available on these damaged areas was of conflicting nature. The research
data produced by the project is necessary when taking decisions on
restrictions to be imposed on emissions. In the early 1990s, demands
were expressed in favour of restricting emissions from the Kola
Peninsula; some went as far as to demand their total elimination. The
two basic solutions were either to refurbish the smelters or close them
down.
The Lapland Forest Damage Project's planning group, which commenced
its work in June 1989, decided to employ the gradient research method
in the project. This method examines the impact that airborne pollutants
have on the environment by taking into consideration the distance from
the pollution source.
The gradient method is generally employed in studies where the study
area is fairly small: i.e. when monitoring individual pollution sources or
the surroundings of population centres. When dealing with large areas,
problems are caused by natural, geographical variation (e.g. climate-
related) which is independent of the pollution load. The use of the
gradient method over the vast territory involved when examining Finnish
and Russian Lapland was made possible by non-complex boreal
ecosystems with their dearth of species and the fact that the pollution
sources consisted of three smelter towns in the Kola Peninsula. A further
aid when making observations of the situation was that there were no
other equivalent pollution sources in latitudes above the Arctic Circle in
Norway, Sweden, Finland or north-western Russia.
During the years 1989-1990, the METLA established sample plots in forests
growing on dry and dryish heathland sites assumed to be sensitive to acidification.
The forest stands thus sampled are pine- dominated with tree age varying between
80 and 200 years and an even or eastwards sloping topography. The sample plot
interval along the south-west-, west-, and north-west-oriented gradient lines
traversing Finnish Lapland is 4 km at the border, and then progressively increases
to 8, 16 and 32 km as the distance from the pollution sources increases
(Fig. 9).
The establishing of sample plots in the Kola Peninsula in 1990 secured the
continuation of the sampling lines from the border all the way to the pollution
sources. Intensive sample plots were also established in Svanvik, north-eastern
Norway, in the same year. A total of 133 sample plots were placed along the
sampling lines. Of these, fourteen in Finnish Lapland, seven in the Kola Peninsula
and two in Norway were subjected to more detailed study - i.e. they were what
may be called intensive sample plots. In actual fact, the number of sample plots
is several times greater because each sampling point consists of a cluster of
3-4 sample plots. Additionally, data collecting is concentrated to separate
"sampling" sample plots as a means of reducing the human impact on the permanent
sample plots (Fig. 10). The field measurements
and collecting of material serving the needs of all subprojects were concentrated
on the same sample plots - occasionally even the same trees.
In 1990 and 1991, a further sixteen "lichen sample plots" were established
within the Lapland Forest Damage Project. The decision to do so was influenced
by observations made in conjunction with the establishing of the intensive sample
plots of the abundance of reindeer lichen communities in the Kola Peninsula.
The lichen sample plots are located in western Finnish Lapland, in Angeli (Inari)
and Muonio, and in eastern Finnish Lapland, in Inari's Raja-Jooseppi and Salla's
Naruska (Fig. 9). These sample plots have
enabled studies focusing on the influence of the lichen layer on the soil and
the frost-hardiness of Scots pine roots.
The range of material used in the Lapland Forest Damage Project
comprised tree roots, mycorrhizae, fungi, lichens from the stems and
branches of trees, ground lichens, mosses, needles, soil, percolating
water, rain water and snow, and bark, litter and seeds of trees. Other
research data were obtained in the form of increment borings,
assessments of tree vitality, air and soil temperature measurements, and
satellite imagery, the latter being used in locating and delimiting
damaged areas. In addition to these, the project personnel made use of
the data collected at the various air-quality monitoring stations in
Lapland.
The funding of the project by Finland's Ministry of Agriculture and
Forestry varied within the range of 3.0-3.7 million Finnish marks
during the years 1990-1994. Over the five years of the project's activities,
the Ministry granted a total of ca. 17.5 million Finnish marks. In
addition to the funds from the Ministry, financing was directed to the
project via the various participating research organisations. The METLA,
for instance, invested nearly 10 million Finnish marks.
The Lapland Forest Damage Projects Interim Report was published in June 1992 (Kauhanen & Varmola 1992). The present document is the 5-year-long project's Final Report hypertext version in English, and it is based on the more comprehensive Final Report in Finnish published in March 1995 (Tikkanen 1995).
Following on from the chapter titled Background to the research project
and its implementation, this document contains an article of general
interest on The forests and forest research in Finnish Lapland. The
subsequent eight chapters then proceed to set out the centrally
significant results obtained in the course of the project. The book ends
with the chapter Conclusions reflecting upon the results achieved and the
degree to which the Lapland Forest Damage Project's goals were fulfilled.
