THE EFFECT OF URBAN-ENVIRONMENT ON NATURAL FORESTS - AN EXAMPLE OF THE TOWN OF DIVNOGORSK

To estimate the effect of environmental changes an tree growth, radial increment was studied in Scotch pine growing in the town of Divnogors k and its vicinity. The logarithm of radial increment was plotted vs. time by the method of Cillier and van Wyk. In trees growing in the tow n, a synchronous retardation of radial increment was revealed after 19 58, i.e., during a period of intense urban development, with the exten t of this retardation varying for different urban areas. The growth ra te was more or less restored in 1970, when the main amount of construc tion work had been completed. For the tree community located near the tail race of the Krasnoyarsk hydroelectric station, the dope of the li near model of growth was negative. This indicates that changes in micr oclimatic conditions after building the dam resulted in retardation of tree growth.