SPECIES ALTERATIONS OF GROUND COVER IN SPRUCE FORESTS AND ELEMENT COMPOSITION IN <i>VACCINIUM VITIS-IDAEA </i>AND <i>V. MYRTILLUS (ERICACEAE) </i>LEAVES IN KOMI REPUBLIC
The study showed that leaves of Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. and V. myrtillus L. were increasingly damaged in 2 times and the number of ground cover species decreased in 1.4—2.2 times under the impact of aerotechnogenic emissions of the OJSC «Mondi Syktyvkar Paper Plant» in comparison to background area. Monitoring of the bilberry spruce communities under the impact of aerotechnogenic pollution by pulp and paper enterprise demonstrated the dynamics of chemical composition in V. vitis-idaea and V. myrtillus leaves. In spruce forests within the polluted zone, leaves of V. myrtillus 3 times more intensively accumulated elements, element content in  V. vitis-idaea leaves was 1.3 more than that in the control. Analysis of leaf element composition of the dwarf shrub ash showed that content of minerals increased at the cost of potassium, phosphorus, magnesium in comparison to background concentrations in dwarf shrub leaves.