Researchers from Russian Academy of Sciences find no flora and fauna disturbances in Amur GPP construction area for fourth year
Environment, flora, and fauna have been monitored as scheduled in the area of construction of the Amur GPP. The study was conducted by the researchers of the Institute for Water and Environmental Problems of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in charge of monitoring since 2019.
«The river water in is quite clean, as it was last year, so there are no changes in this regard. This is evidenced by the presence of stoneflies: they love clean, flowing, cold and oxygenated water,» Nadezhda Yavorskaya says.
Zoologist Aleksandr Antonov studies animals. He not only keeps track of the land animals, but also looks for traces of their life: tracks, burrows, etc.
«For four years, the nature of habitats and the species diversity of animals have not changed,» Aleksandr Antonov, lead researcher at the Laboratory of Animal Ecology, shared his observations.
Botanists note that rare species listed in the Red Data Book of Russia are quite common in the immediate vicinity of the Amur GPP. Not a single species was affected during the plant construction.
«Pine is the best bioindicator of environmental well-being. We observe good fresh undergrowth. We also assess the state of the cenopopulation of rare Red Data Book plants: there are about a dozen of them in the project area of impact. No negative changes have been recorded during the year at all the sites that we monitor,» says Lyubov Antonova, leading researcher at the Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology.
Background
Scheduled studies of the state of the environment, flora, and fauna have been conducted in the vicinity of the Amur GPP since 2017. Researchers note the absence of any violations of the requirements of Russian and international environmental standards during the entire monitoring period.
Enlarged photo (JPG, 1 MB)