Response of Plant Cover of Tundra Ecosystems to Oil-and-Gas Extraction Development

Study of vegetation cover in technogenically damaged habitats and analysis of flora of post-technogenic derivative communities is one of the methodic approaches allowing to evaluate the vegetation potential, to trace the stages of restorative successions, and to identify specific features of self-restoring of plant cover in damaged habitats in different latitudinal and longitudinal regions. Analysis of the effect of objects of oil and gas industry upon vegetation cover of tundra ecosystems show that restoration of vegetation is affected by geographic position of damaged land, by relief and underlying grounds, contamination of substrate with pollutants etc. The impact was assessed in two aspects: 1) Analysis of self restoration of plant communities in drilling grounds, including identification of plant succession stage, analysis of flora and vegetation allowing to make difference between derivative and background communities, identification of specific features of post-technogenic succession in various tundra sub-zones. 2) Assessment of plant tolerance to contamination by oil and other chemicals accompanying well drilling, i.e. analysis of ability of different plant species to master contaminated ecotopes and to accumulate heavy metals in biomass.