Extreme Anthropogenic Loads and the Northern Ecosystem Condition

In the extreme North, the polar region of Siberian Russia, the largest mining and processing enterprises for metallic and nonmetallic ores, coal, oil, and gas are situated. The extremely vulnerable boreal and polar ecosystems of the North are responding adversely to the impact of these activities, and are in danger of collapse because of them. The mechanisms of such impacts, their formation, continuous extension, and merger have been studied. The deforested and destroyed areas of former forest-tundra and taiga ecosystems resemble the Arctic zones of a much harsher environment more than the typical Arctic zones where they occur.