Assessment of air toxicity in the megalopolis of Krasnoyarsk using long‐term monitoring of suburban pine forests.

This study focuses on using suburban pine forests in Krasnoyarsk, an industrial metropolis in Central Siberia, Russia, as bioindicators to assess long-term air pollution effects from 2002 to 2021. Two pine forests—one exposed to industrial emissions and one control—were monitored annually for parameters including needle damage, tree vigor, mortality, and an original bioindication measure involving episodic increases in needle size, hypothesized as a protective response to early damage. Results indicate progressive forest deterioration linked to chronic atmospheric toxicity, with significant declines observed especially between 2019 and 2021, suggesting an approaching irreversible stage of forest system damage. The study highlights the importance of integrating forest-based bioindication into regional ecological monitoring to evaluate air quality management effectiveness in industrial cities.