THE STATE OF THE ECOSYSTEMS IN THE CENTRAL BARENTS REGION - SCALE, FACTORS AND MECHANISM OF DISTURBANCE

More than 650 locations spread over a 188 000-km(2) area in the Europe an Arctic (Russia, Finland and Norway) were visited in the course of a n ecogeochemical mapping project during 1995. Moss and soil samples we re taken for chemical analyses and each site was documented in a serie s of photographs. The qualitative, empirical data gained during the pr oject shows that the ecosystem is damaged over vast areas. The scale o f the damage, as well as its causes, vary from country to country. Ind ustrial activity, including two of the world's largest SO2 and heavy-m etal emission sources on the Kola Peninsula, is responsible for almost all of the pollution and visual ecosystem damage found in the Russian project area. In the Finnish and Norwegian areas, reindeer overgrazin g is the major cause of ecosystem damage. The scale of the damage from overgrazing in Finland is comparable to, and in Norway even more exte nsive than, the industry-related damage found in Russia. Comparison of the two different factors involving human impact (pollution and overg razing) on a delicate ecosystem provides new information on the mechan isms of ecosystem degradation. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.