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Seed productivity and features of biology of Malaxis monophyllos (L.) Sw. (Orchidaceae) on the northern distribution border

I.A. Kirillova, D.V. Kirillov

Section: Population ecology

The article presents the results of studying some aspects of Malaxis monophyllos (L.) Sw. (Orchidaceae) reproductive biology in the Komi Republic (northeast Russia), where the northern border of this species distribution area passes. The research was carried out in 2010–2019 in the Syktyvdinskiy and Ust’-Kulomskiy administrative districts of the Komi Republic. We have found that M. monophyllos usually occurs in wet forests and swamps, and sometimes occupied the disturbed habitats with low competition (old forest motorways). It usually forms small coenopopulations (up to 100 plants), with a high proportion of generative shoots. Within the coenopopulations, individual plants form small groups or grow as single plants. The efficiency of pollination (46%) in the study area corresponds to the average fruit set in the whole species distribution area. This parameter varies highly within one community, depending on the weather and climatic conditions in different years. We found statistically significant negative correlation between fruit setting and the number of seeds in fruit. So, the lower fruit set is compensated by numerous seeds in the fruit. Seed productivity is high. In the Komi Republic, one fruit of M. monophyllos contains an average of 3338±219 seeds, with more than 94% of seeds with embryo. The mean index of conditionally-real seed productivity (i. e. the mean number of seeds per a generative shoot) is 53000 psc. In the Komi Republic, the seed productivity of M. monophyllos was found to be higher than in the southern parts of its distribution area. It can be assumed that, in the northern part of M. monophyllos distribution area, the increased number of seeds in the fruit is one of additional mechanisms of the implementation of seed renewal, which is the main way of reproduction for this species. The seeds of M. monophyllos are very small – 0.33–0.09 mm, and contain 88.4% empty air space, which provides them with volatility and increases the chance to reach suitable places for germination.

Keywords: Malaxis monophyllos (L.) Sw., Orchidaceae, the Komi Republic, northern distribution border, fruit set, seed productivity

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Article published in number 3 for 2021
DOI: 10.25750/1995-4301-2021-3-133-139

Influence of air pollution on the ecophysiological parameters of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Siberian spruce Picea obovata Ledeb.) in the urban ecosystems of Southern Siberia

N.V. Pakharkova, A.D. Shkaruba, G.A. Sorokina, N.A. Gaevskiy, Yu.S. Grigoriev, O.P. Kalyakina, A.A. Shubin, M.A. Polosukhina

Section: Monitoring of natural and anthropogenically disturbed areas

This research aims towards a better understanding of the responses of the Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and the Siberian spruce (Picea obovata Ledeb.) to air pollution stress in urban and semi-urban conditions. One of the most reliable tests for the depth of winter dormancy is measuring the concentration of abscisic acid in needles. An alternative method for determining the depth of winter dormancy is based on the measurements of heat-induced changes in chlorophyll fluorescence. Our research confirms that the depth of winter dormancy of P. sylvestris and P. obovata is highly sensitive to air pollution stress. In polluted environments, in late winter and early spring, the final release from dormancy is controlled only by low temperatures and it can be easily triggered by the first warm period or even a quick daytime thawing. Our data demonstrate that the trees growing in industrial areas are easier to release from dormancy and to be affected by late winter or spring frost. In urban environments, the risk of frost injuries is even higher due to early spring warm spells associated with the heat island effect. P. sylvestris is less susceptible to air pollution and temperature fluctuations than P. obovata, and therefore represents a better choice for urban forestry projects.

Keywords: air pollution, Pinus sylvestris, Picea obovata, chlorophyll fluorescence, abscisic acid

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Article published in number 3 for 2021
DOI: 10.25750/1995-4301-2021-3-090-097

Effect of the cultivation medium composition on Dunaliella tertiolecta sensitivity to potassium dichromate

E.S. Stravinskene, Yu.S. Grigor’ev, T.L. Shashkova, M.A. Subbotin, M.A. Polosukhina

Section: Ecotoxicology

The effect of a model toxicant on the growth of the algae Dunaliella tertiolecta in Goldberg medium, prepared on the basis of solutions of various sea salt complexes, as well as NaCl alone solution, has been studied. The growth of algae in the controls was 10–15 times after 48 hours in all variants of media. Potassium dichromate at a concentration of 5 mg/L had little or no effect on the growth of the test culture in media prepared from the sea salt solutions. Simultaneously, the same concentration of potassium dichromate completely suppressed the algae growth in NaCl-media. The results of the chemical analysis of all the studied sea salt solutions showed a ratio of the main ions close to that of natural sea water. All studied samples of sea salt solutions contained 5 to 8% magnesium and calcium ions, which is a possible explanation for the lower sensitivity of Dunaliella tertiolecta to potassium dichromate in these media, since the hardness of the medium affects the bioavailability of toxicants for test organisms.

Keywords: Dunaliella tertiolecta, bioassay, potassium dichromate, cultivation medium, sea salts

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Article published in number 3 for 2021
DOI: 10.25750/1995-4301-2021-3-186-192

Evaluation of anthropogenic load on water bodies within the city limits

T.V. Noskova, M.S. Panina, O.M. Labuzova, T.S. Papina, E.G. Ilina

Section: Monitoring of natural and anthropogenically disturbed areas

The fluorimetric analysis of the content of formaldehyde, volatile phenols and oil has been performed in the samples of atmospheric precipitation. Atmospheric precipitation (rain and snow) were collected in Barnaul from October 2013 until September 2018. The average concentration of oil in atmospheric precipitation was 0.07 ppm, volatile phenols – 0.006 ppm and formaldehyde – 0.1 ppm. A seasonal increase of the oil concentration was revealed in the cold period of the year. For formaldehyde a seasonal increase of the concentration has been revealed in the warm period of the year. Volatile phenols are characterized by a constant emission into the atmosphere of the Barnaul regardless of the time of year. The anthropogenic load of the formaldehyde, volatile phenols and oil on surface waters within the boundaries of the city of Barnaul was calculated taking into account average rivers’ discharge. Full-flowing the Ob River does not experience significant anthropogenic load within the boundaries of the city of Barnaul, as regards of the studied pollutants. Its waters are able to dilute the concentration of incoming studied organic pollutants from urban stormwater runoff to before MAC. For the Barnaulka River, the stormwater runoff within the boundaries of the city of Barnaul is a serious source of pollution with oil and volatile phenols. Phenolic compounds pose especially high risk of pollution of the Barnaulka River. Contamination of the Barnaulka River with formaldehyde is not observed. For the improvement current unfavorable environmental situation, it will be necessary to construct the urban treatment plants.

Keywords: atmospheric deposition, water body, anthropogenic load, formaldehyde, volatile phenols, oil

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Article published in number 3 for 2021
DOI: 10.25750/1995-4301-2021-3-098-103

Infestation of pea seeds (Pisum sativum L.) with pathogenic microorganisms

T.P. Gradoboeva

Section: Agroecology

Injuriousness of seed infection is very high. So, the aim of our study was estimation of pathogenic microflora on peas seeds and screening of cultivars on seed defeat with most harmful pathogenes. As a result of perennial monitoring of contamination of peas seeds, it is revealed annual existing of fungi of genera Ascochyta, Fusarium, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Pennicillum, Cladosporiumas well as agents of bacteriosis Pseudomonas syringae var. pisi on their surface. Fungi of genus Ascochyta spp. were represented with two species: A. pisi, A. pinodes. Within fungi of genus Fusarium determined on peas seeds, F. oxysporum var. pisi, F. avenaceum, F. sporotrichioides, F. culmorum prevail. Fungi composition and defeat of cultivars with them varied in dependence of year conditions and cultivar. Significant part in complex of seed infection for all year of study belongs to fungi of genus Alternaria. They were met practically on seeds of all cultivars (96.5–100.0%), with except of cultivar L-1325 (Sweden). Most dangerous present agents of diseases often exist in mycobiota of seeds: ascochyta blight (17.4–93.5%), fusariosis (6.5–68.8%) and bacteriosis (39.1–80.0%). 237 cultivars and genotypes of peas of domestic and foreign breeding were studied. For study period (2014–2018) seeds were defeated in the highest degree with ascochyta blight. Hard and very hard degree of defeat of seed with this disease was noted in 27.1 and 19.8% of genotypes. For fusariosis defeat these parameters were 2.5 and 17.3%, for bacteriosis – 31.2 and 1.4%. Absence of ascochyta blight on seeds noted in 12.2%, fusariosis – in 31.2%, bacteriosis – 13.5% of studied cultivars. As a result of perennial evaluation perspective genotypes were selected (Tigra (Germany), Е-3907, Е-3335, Е-3767, Е-4030, Д-23417 (Russian Federation, Kemchug (Pamir)), which had defeat of seeds with ascochyta blight, fusariosis, and bacteriosis not higher than 4% for all years of study. This parameter has high importance in practical breeding.

Keywords: peas, seed contamination, resistance, ascochyta blight, fusariosis, bacteriosis

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Article published in number 3 for 2021
DOI: 10.25750/1995-4301-2021-3-179-185

The influence of weather conditions and species characteristics on the passage of phenodates of clematis in the Bashkir Cis-Urals

L.M. Abramova, R.A. Bilalova, R.V. Vafin, Z.Kh. Shigapov

Section: Population ecology

Results of the phenological observations of 21 species of the Clematis L. genus relating to 4 sections and 7 subsections, which are carried out in the South-Ural botanical garden institute of UFRC RAS (Ufa) from 2007 to 2020 are presented in article. Was noted the timing of the onset of 9 phenophases: breaking of buds, beginning and end of growth of shoot, beginning, termination and duration of blossoming, maturing of fruits, termination and duration of vegetation. Correlation analysis was used to assess the relationship between phenophases, the influence of species and annual meteorological features was estimated by two-factor dispersion analysis. It was revealed that the vegetation in clematis begins mainly in the III decade of April. The phases of the beginning and end of flowering are an individual feature for each species. Fruiting usually occurs 2-2,5 months after the beginning of flowering. Only 11 species out of 21 bear fruit, as the rest do not have time to form full-fledged seeds due to late flowering. Vegetation ends in late September-early October with the onset of the first frost. The onset of all phases, except for the duration of vegetation, is reliably influenced by species features. Phenodates of breaking of buds, growth beginning and end of shoot growth, the end of vegetation and the duration of vegetation is subject to fluctuations depending on the climatic conditions of a particular year.

Keywords: Clematis L., species, seasonal rhythm of development, phenodate

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Article published in number 3 for 2021
DOI: 10.25750/1995-4301-2021-3-153-159

Heavy metal toxicity detection in phytoplankton by using neural network analysis of chlorophyll fluorescence induction

S.S. Khruschev, Т.V. Drozdenko, Т.Yu. Plyusnina, I.V. Тimofeev, D.A. Todorenko, E.I. Tikhomirova, Т.К. Аntal

Section: Ecotoxicology

Application of artificial neural networks for identifying poorly formalized patterns in experimental become widespread nowadays. In the present work, we elaborated a prototype of a model for detection of water contamination with heavy metals. The model is a fully connected neural network (multilayer perceptron) designed by using the Python programming language and the TensorFlow software (Keras). It is intended for application in environmental monitoring of natural water bodies using chlorophyll fluorescence measurements which are considered as highly informative approach for probing photosynthetic activity in vivo and in situ. Fluorescence rise induced by application of a strong light pulse to the dark-adapted plant or algae (the OJIP transient) reflects a stepwise transition of the photosynthetic electron transport chain from the oxidized to the fully reduced state. To provide a quantitative analysis of the OJIP transient, a JIP test was introduced whose parameters describe energy fluxes through the photosynthetic electron transport chain. Our model uses OJIP transients and/or JIP-test parameters, measured in phytoplankton communities, as input data. As a result, it determines the probability of water pollution by heavy metals. In order to test the model, phytoplankton samples were taken from 9 water bodies of Pskov region and then treated with chromium and cadmium under laboratory conditions. For that, phytoplankton samples were exposed to cadmium and chromium salts (CdSO4 and K2Cr2O7) at two concentrations (20 and 50 μM) for three days, and OJIP curves were recorded and JIP-test parameters calculated at different stages of the experiment. In total, 419 curves were collected, and a whole dataset was analyzed. Results showed that accuracy of detecting the toxic effects of Cd2+ (after 2 or more hours of incubation) and Cr2O72– (after 9 or more hours of incubation) by the model achieved 90%. The highly accurate determination of the toxicity of heavy metals indicates a promising prospect for the application of machine learning technology in environmental monitoring.

Keywords: heavy metals, aquatic ecosystems, phytoplankton, environmental monitoring, neural networks, chlorophyll fluorescence, photosynthesis

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Article published in number 2 for 2021
DOI: 10.25750/1995-4301-2021-2-134-141

Improvement of fluorometric method for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons determination in environmental objects

O.A. Plotnikova

Section: Methodology and research methods. Models and forecasts

The selection of suitable pre-sample preparation and analysis methods for effective monitoring of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is essential. An important task is to control the PAHs content in various media. These substances, even at low concentrations, can pose a threat to public health, can have carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic effects on living organisms. A distinctive feature of PAHs molecules is the ability to absorb energy and luminescence under the influence of UV radiation. In this regard, spectroscopic methods are promising for the PAHs determination. The paper presents the characteristic absorption and fluorescence spectra of PAHs, and indicates their excitation and fluorescence wavelengths. An experimental study of the metrological characteristics of various spectroscopic methods has been carried out. The PAHs representative pyrene was determined by spectrophotometry and fluorimetry in solutions, as well as solid-phase fluorimetry with preliminary micellar and sorption concentration on a solid matrix. The use of aqueous micellar solutions of the nonionic surfactant Triton X–100 made it possible to enhance the analytical signals for the pyrene determination. The data obtained confirm the fact that the fluorescence method is characterized by a higher sensitivity than the method based on the registration of these substances’ absorption. The linear range of concentrations determined by the spectrophotometric method is more significant in comparison with the fluorometric methods and amounts to 14–10000 ng / ml. At the same time, the combination of preliminary micellar and sorption concentration with solid-phase fluorescence on a modified by surfactants viscose matrix made it possible to reduce the detection limit of pyrene to 0.8 ng / ml, which is especially important for the development of methods for controlling ecotoxicants contained in the environment in "trace" concentrations.

Keywords: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), spectroscopic methods, absorption spectrophotometry, fluorimetry, sorption concentration, solid-phase fluorescence

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Article published in number 2 for 2021
DOI: 10.25750/1995-4301-2021-2-044-048

Natural-climatic factors in ecological zoning of the city of Irkutsk

E.V. Maksyutova, L.B. Bashalkhanova, L.M. Korytny, A.A. Sorokovoi

Section: Monitoring of natural and anthropogenically disturbed areas

An analysis is made of the natural-climatic characteristics of the formation of the ecological status of the atmospheric air in the city of Irkutsk. It is found that its chronic pollution is associated with a long-term annual exceedance of MAC for 5 to 6 specially hazardous pollutants, and with a persistent presence of suspended substances (up to 2.4 MAC) and benzo(a)pyrene (up to 7.8 MAC). The main volume of pollutants emissions corresponds to a long-lasting heating season (mid-September‒mid-May). A zoning of the territory of the city was carried out according to the degree of the possible effect of topography and prevailing type of underlying surface (water, forest-park, and stone and wooden buildings) on air temperature in the atmospheric ground layer. The zone of strong influence includes three types of microclimate of lowlands, with the January temperature deviations from 1.9 to ‒3.6°C from the Irkutsk, Observatory base weather station. Stagnant phenomena in this zone can promote formation of intense air pollution of residential and recreational territories. In this case, topography is the leading factor for the spatial differentiation of air temperature. Because of a high activity of the air exchange, the summit surfaces experience a weak impact of the environmental factors. The zone of moderate impact on slopes and planate territories reflects the local characteristics of the underlying surface. The dominant influence of stone buildings and roads on air temperature is most clearly pronounced in the center of the city on the right bank of the Angara; on the left bank, it is smoothed out by the influence of forested areas. With distance from the center of the city, similar air temperatures are typical for the slopes of different gentleness and aspect. This occurs as a result of significant differences in heat exchange in the dominant types of underlying surface.

Keywords: atmospheric air condition, microclimate of the city, deviations of air temperature in January, types of underlying surface, zoning of the urban environment

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Article published in number 2 for 2021
DOI: 10.25750/1995-4301-2021-2-055-059

The stability assessment of the morphological and functional characteristics of rhizospheric strains of Bacillus subtilis using atomic force microscopy

M.N. Artamonova, N.I. Potaturkina-Nesterova, B.B. Kostishko

Section: Methodology and research methods. Models and forecasts

The important advantage of atomic force microscopy (AFM) is the low power requirements for the studied objects, which allows studying living cells without fixation and with high resolution. It was proposed to use AFM to determine the morphometric and elastic-mechanical characteristics of the marker specie Bacillus subtilis isolated from the rhizosphere of the Cucurbita pepo L. crop in different vegetative phase of plant development. These characteristics of the microorganism are indicators of their functional activity and resistance to the action of biotic and abiotic environmental factors. It was shown that some parameters (length, width and height, elastic modulus, and the root mean square roughness) of B. subtilis isolated at different phases of plant growth were stable. So, elastic modulus of the bacilli was equal to 5.9 ± 0.2 MPa in plant sprouting phase, 5.8 ± 0.1 MPa in the phase of budding, 6.0 ± 0.3 MPa in the phase of flowering 5.7 ± 0.3 MPa in the phase of fruiting of the plant. The indicator of the root mean square surface roughness was equal to 37.5 ± 0.6 nm in plant sprouting phase; 35.1 ± 4.6 nm in the phase of budding; 31.8 ± 2.8 nm in the phase of flowering and 40.0 ± 2.1 nm in the phase of fruiting of the plant. AFM study of the surface of B. subtilis cells revealed a change of the adhesion force of the studied strains. This indicator was equal to 32.0 ± 6.0 nN and 41.0 ± 8.0 nN in plant sprouting and budding phases respectively. And the adhesion force was increasing significantly in the flowering and fruiting phase in comparison to the first phases (73.0 ± 5.0 nN and 69.0 ± 3.0 nN, respectively; p <0.05). The use of atomic force microscopy technology has shown its effectiveness in studying of the stability of the morphometric and elastic-mechanical characteristics of B. subtilis, which are indicators of functional activity of the plant. It was suggested an approach to the development of a methodology for assessing and managing the quality of ecosystem components based on the use of a new information method for the study of marker biological objects.

Keywords: Bacillus subtilis, rhizospheric bacteria, bacterial-plant symbiosis, atomic force microscopy, morpho-functional properties of bacteria

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Article published in number 2 for 2021
DOI: 10.25750/1995-4301-2021-2-038-043

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