The State of Soil Macrofauna in Pine and Spruce Forests of the Middle Taiga Zone during Reduction of Pulp and Paper Industry Emissions (Komi Republic)

Analysis of the state of soil macrofauna during a period of reduced emissions from pulp and paper production revealed changes in the structural parameters of invertebrate communities in pine and spruce forests in the impact, buffer, and background areas. The macrofauna of pine and spruce forests is characterized by a high similarity and low diversity at the level of large taxa. This is typical feature of coniferous forests in the middle taiga subzone. The species richness of invertebrate communities is estimated for the period from 2003–2019. It is comparable for the impact and buffer areas and is almost twice lower than that of the background area. The total number of macrofauna and taxonomic groups varies by periods and areas of load. A change of dominant species was observed in the pine forests of the impact area in 2007 and 2010. Lithobius curtipes C.L. Koch, 1847 and Pella humeralis (Gravenhorst, 1802) predominated in the buffer and background areas, Philonthus rotundicollis (Menetries, 1832) and Philonthus politus (Linnaeus, 1758) predominated in the impact area. No changes of dominants were detected in pine forests in 2018 and in spruce forests in 2006, 2010, and 2019. Dendrobaena octaedra (Savigny, 1826) and L. curtipes were dominants in the impact, buffer, and background areas. The dominance of zoophages was typical for all of the studied plots. The number of some taxa (Lumbricidae, Diplopoda, Elateridae) indicates an increase in the relative abundance of saprophages in soils of coniferous forests in the impact area. Soils of the background area with high natural acidity are unsuitable for invertebrates activity. Favorable conditions are created for them near the pulp and paper plant due to neutralizing soil acidity.