Section: Monitoring of natural and anthropogenically disturbed areas
The article presents the characteristics of epiphytic microbial complexes of the Hypogymnia physodes (L.) Nyl (Parmeliaceae) lichen and on the Pinus sylvestris L. bark, on which the lichen grows. The samples were collected in the sites located at different distances from the former chemical weapons (CW) storage and destruction facility “Maradykovsky”. It was established that the abundance of the epiphytic microbiota of H. physodes and the substrate of its growth varies both between different sampling sites and between lichen thalli and bark. There is a high positive correlation between the abundance of epiphytic microbiota of the lichen and pine bark (r = 0.98–0.92). Despite all the significant quantitative differences between the epiphytic communities of lichen and pine bark, ammonifying bacteria consistently act as their main structural element. A relationship was noted whereby the thallus of the lichen H. physodes, possessing high metabolic activity, is populated by various groups of epiphytic microorganisms. A chemical analysis aimed at determining the content of essential chemical elements in the lichen thalli also revealed heterogeneity in their accumulation in the thalli across the study sites. It is known that any environmentally induced changes in the biochemical composition of the substrate (lichen thalli and pine bark) affect the abundance and structure of the microbial community. A probable association (p – 0.008) was established between the maximum thallus colonization by epiphytic microbiota in H. physodes lichen variant on a pine tree from a site located near a former chemical weapons destruction facility, which had minimal heavy metal (HM) content and high levels of macro- and microelements, and the microbiome of this lichen from a site located near a former chemical weapons storage facility and a federal railway line, where minimal microbial populations and higher HM content were detected. Such a change in the abundance and structure of the microbial complex indicates the influence of various technogenic loads on the development of the microbiota, which can be used in environmental monitoring as a diagnostic indicator of environmental transformation.
ISSN 1995-4301
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