Impact of industrial contamination on the populations of small forest rodents

Investigations performed for monitoring the impact of industrial contamination from the Kostomuksha ore mining and processing enterprise (northern Karelia) on the populations of forest mouse-like rodents revealed increased embryonic mortality (three to four times higher compared to the control) in breeding females from the areas contaminated by nitrogen and sulfur oxides within the territory studied. The toxicants also influence other parameters of the population: abundance dynamics, ecological and spatial structure of the population, and reproduction rates. The results demonstrate that the population reactions of species may turn out to be more accurate and demonstrative when estimating the consequences of industrial contamination than the direct concentrations of a particular toxicant in the animal body.