The Root System of Larix sukaczewii Dyl. in the Polluted Environment of the Ufa Industrial Center

In forest stands located in the areas affected by industrial discharges, changes in the aboveground organs of woody plants are the first to appear. For example, in conifer plantations, the morphometric parameters of needles (Pristupa and Mazepa, 1987) and stem structure (Spesivtsev, 1998) are altered, and the radial increment (Ziganshin, 1996) and apical growth (Mazepa and Pristupa, 1986) are decreased. This impairs the vital state of the stands and leads to premature death of both individual trees and entire stands. However, the specific structural features of the root systems of woody plants sometimes prevent the deleterious impact of industrial environmental pollution from destroying tree stands (Yarmishko, 1997).