State of grass stand and ground litter of forest ecosystems exposure to environmental pollution by copper smelt “karabashmed” atmospheric emissions

The results of four years research aimed to bioindicative analysis of forest grass stand and ground litter situated near by Karabash copper smelt (Chelyabinskaya oblast) are presented. The coincidence of sigmoid curves describing dependence of grass total projective cover and ground litter depth on distance from the air emission source was revealed and explained. Invertebrate saprophages were determined to be most weak link of forest ecosystems.