Start in science. Lichens - indicators of environmental conditions Plants - indicators of soil water regime
Indicator plants are in great demand in gardening; they will tell you how best to arrange your site. Although almost any cultivated crop, the condition of the stems, foliage, root system or other organ can tell us about the lack or excess of nutrients in the soil and its moisture. The ability to correctly determine what exactly plants are signaling will help you correct the situation in time and improve the harvest.
Indicator plants in the country
Free yourself from the need for constant diagnostics cultivated plants, you can turn to those that grow on the site without your participation, the so-called indicator plants. Look around and you will definitely find them. They grow well on their own year after year, no matter how often you remove them.
Determining the condition of the soil is one of the important factors for gardeners, helping to determine in advance and more accurately what fertilizers should be applied, what exactly is best to plant in a particular place.
Groundwater indicator plants
Soil moisture
Plants are xerophytes. They easily tolerate drought and can survive without moisture for quite a long time:
Plants are mesophytes. Forest and meadow grasses growing on moist soils, but not wetlands:
Plants are hygrophytes. Prefer abundantly moist, marshy soils:
If the area allows, it is better to arrange a place with abundantly moist soil as a decorative part of the site, for example, make a secluded corner for relaxation with small pond. In the absence of such an opportunity to grow vegetables, you will have to work hard on drainage.
Such a place is not suitable for trees and shrubs; they need good growth level required groundwater no closer than one and a half or even two meters from the soil surface.
Groundwater level
The owners of a plot, especially a new one, are wondering about the availability of water, for example, for installing a well or a well, an automatic watering system or distributing plants. This is where plant indicators come to the rescue. Explore the area and look for plants that indicate the presence groundwater.
A water depth of 10 cm will be indicated by two types of sedge - turfy and vesicular, 10–50 cm sharp sedge and purple reed grass, from 50 cm to a meter meadowsweet and canary grass. When water flows at a depth of 1–1.5 m, plant indicators will be sagittarius grass, meadow fescue, multifloral vetch and bentgrass, more than 1.5 m - creeping wheatgrass, red clover, large plantain and brome.
Soil indicator plants
Plants - oligotrophs indicate low content useful elements in the soil. These are lichens, heather, cranberries, deciduous mosses, wild rosemary, lingonberries and blueberries. As well as Antennaria, Belous and Sandy Tsmin.
Medium fertile soil suitable for plants – mesatrophs, for example, green mosses, male shield grass and drooping gum, wild strawberries, oregano, ranunculus anemone, oak grass, bifolia, etc.
Indicators of enriched soils include plants - eutrophic and megatrophic. Mine moss, two types of nettle (stinging and stinging nettle), female fern, woodlice, horsetail and moonflower. And also ostrich fern, wild carrot fern, fireweed, hoofweed, quinoa, black nightshade, etc.
Plants - eurytrophs grow in soils with different levels fertility, therefore they are not indicators. This is bindweed (birch), yarrow.
The most important substance in plant nutrition and development is nitrogen. From a lack of this element, plants wither and grow slower.
Indicators of nitrogen content in soil
- Plants are nitrophils(nitrogen rich soil). Common pigweed, quinoa, purple damselfish, motherwort, burdock, perennial woodweed, hops, champagne, marigold, bedstraw, bittersweet nightshade and stinging nettle.
- Plants are nitrophobes(nitrogen-poor soil). In such places, almost all legumes grow well, as well as alder, sea buckthorn and jida (dzhigida), sedum, wild carrot, and navel.
There are also observations of plants indicating the density of the soil. The dense soil on the site is overgrown with cinquefoil, creeping buttercup, plantain, and creeping wheatgrass. Creeping buttercup and dandelion thrive in loam soils. Loose soil with increased content organics love nettles and burnet. Sanders prefer mullein and common chickweed.
Plants that indicate soil acidity
In excess acidic soils However, the normal growth of cultivated plants is hampered by excess aluminum and manganese; they contribute to disruption of protein and carbohydrate metabolism, which threatens partial loss of yield or complete withering of plants. To calculate the composition of the soil on your site, take a closer look at wild plants.
Plants are acidophiles (indicators of soils with high acidity pH less than 6.7)
Extreme acidophiles, growing in soils with a pH of 3–4.5:
Average acidophiles– pH 4.5–6:
Weak acidophiles(pH 5–6.7):
Plants are neutrophils, identifying neutral and slightly acidic soils with a pH level of 4.5–7.0
Plants that prefer soil with a pH of 6.7–7 – ordinary neutrophils: Hultena willow and pleurocium and hylocomium mosses.
Soil with a pH of 6–7.3 is an ideal environment for perilinear neutrophils: hemlock cranberry, clover, meadow butterfly, tuft and common gooseberry.
Plants are basophiles (indicators of alkaline soils with pH 7.3–9)
Soils with a pH of 6.7–7.8 are ideal for neutral plants - basophils:
They grow in soil with a pH of 7.8–9. ordinary plants - basophils, such as red elderberry and slippery elm, as well calciphiles(falling larch, oak anemone, six-petalled meadowsweet) and plants - halophytes, such as small-flowered tamarix, immortelle and some types of wormwood.
Most of vegetable crops grows in low acidity and neutral soils, so for good growth and abundant harvest, high acidity must be neutralized. There are many options for this, it all depends on the desired result and the crops grown, because there are plants that do not interfere with slightly acidic soil from developing well, for example, radishes, carrots and tomatoes. And especially potatoes. On alkaline soil, it is severely affected by scab and the yield drops sharply.
Cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin, onions, garlic, lettuce, spinach, peppers, parsnips, asparagus and celery prefer a slightly acidic or neutral soil reaction (pH 6.4-7.2). And cabbage and beets, even on neutral soil, respond well to alkalization.
Plants that are not indicators
Not all types of plants can identify the soil; the best in this matter are those that are adapted to certain conditions and intolerant of any changes (stenobionts). Plant species that easily adapt to changes in soil composition, as well as environment(eurybionts) cannot be called indicators.
Plants whose seeds were accidentally brought onto the site are not indicators. Usually they produce single shoots, and with timely harvesting they do not appear again.
It turns out that most of the plants that we fight and are accustomed to calling weeds can be irreplaceable assistants in soil diagnostics. Indicator plants allow you to save time and effort on complex experiments, because all you need to do is just find them in your area and recognize them.
Different organisms react differently to certain anthropogenic impacts, being their indicators. It should be noted that not only individual species of organisms, but also their communities as a whole have indicator properties. The advantage of living indicators is that they summarize biologically important data about the environment and reflect its state as a whole, making it unnecessary to use expensive, labor-intensive physical and chemical methods for measuring individual biological parameters. Living organisms react to short-term and burst emissions of toxicants, which may not be registered automated system control. They reflect the speed of changes occurring in the natural environment, indicate the paths and localization various kinds pollution in ecological systems, the possible ways in which these agents enter human food make it possible to judge the degree of harmfulness of certain substances for wildlife and humans, and also help to normalize the permissible load on ecosystems that differ in their resistance to anthropogenic impact.
Due to the high responsiveness of mosses to changes in growing conditions and chemical composition environment, when widespread, along with lichens, they are often used as bioindicators. The species composition of mosses and their abundance are used as indicators of environmental conditions, and the content minerals in the body of mosses is an integral indicator of the level of pollution, reflecting the more or less average content of pollutants over a long period (the lifetime of a turf or an individual).
Mosses are capable of accumulating a wide range of technogenic pollutants in their bodies: from organic substances, including pesticides, to heavy metals and radionuclides. Green mosses common in our forests are most often used as storage indicators among bryophytes: Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt., Dicranum polysetum Sw., Hylocomium splendens (Hedw.) B.S.G.. These species are used in countries near and far abroad for the sale of content monitoring programs heavy metals in various ecosystems: from pine forests to geothermal springs. In particular, observations of the content of Cd, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Cr, V, Pb and Zn in mosses are constantly carried out in Finland, Germany, Austria, Poland, Spain and Italy, New Zealand, the USA and Canada. Monitoring studies of the content of heavy metals are carried out in this way in Russia and Belarus, for example, in the Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve.
The most important thing seems to be the study of mosses as radionuclide accumulators, because most of The territory of the Gomel region is contaminated with radioactive fallout as a result of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
up to 43.81% of the gross reserve in the pine biogeocenosis (wet subordium B3). The most realistic data are given in: over time, there are no significant changes in the role of biota in the accumulation of 137Cs, but only its redistribution towards the ground cover. Mosses contain 6% (maximum 12%) of the total 137Cs reserves in the ecosystem, which is comparable to the values for the tree layer.
The reason for the formation of such a high content of 137Cs in the moss cover with a short period of establishing equilibrium with the environment may be the ability of mosses to retain nutrients, transport them in the acropetal direction and reuse them, which leads to minimization of battery losses.
Thus, under conditions of territory contamination with 137Cs, selective accumulation of the nuclide occurs, and the moss cover can become a depot (up to 12% of the total content in the ecosystem) of 137Cs forms that are easily involved in the biological cycle. The main conclusion of almost all studies concerning the storage capacity of mosses is the fact that they can be used as storage indicators. Issues of the participation of mosses in the further migration of 137Cs accumulated by them and the influence of moss cover on the availability of the nuclide for root nutrition higher plants, associated with a developed moss cover, are poorly studied.
For quick assessment There are many methods for determining the main characteristics of the soil on a site, and one of them is using wild-growing indicator plants. Thanks to them, it is possible to visually determine, for example, acidity, mechanical composition, nutritional value, density, soil moisture.
Most cultivated garden plants are adapted to wide pH ranges and die only at extreme soil acidity levels.
The least sensitive to acidity are bells, violets, irises, gladioli, junipers, and cereals. Typical lovers of “sour” are azaleas, rhododendrons, heathers. Neutral soil reaction is preferred by hyacinths, tulips, and violas; alkaline - fluffy chist, alpine edelweiss, gypsophila, etc.
Acidity indicators. Indicators of very acidic soils (pH 3.0-4.5) are sphagnum and green mosses, club mosses, common heather, white grass, cotton grass, and soddy pike.
Inhabitants of acidic and slightly acidic soils - horse sorrel, small sorrel, field toritsa, bifolia, cat's foot, coltsfoot, lungwort, field mint, speedwell, large plantain, male fern, dog violet, beautiful pikulnik, chicken millet, horsetail, creeping and caustic buttercups.
Indicators of poor soils are sphagnum mosses and lichens, bog rosemary, lingonberry, cranberry, blueberry, common heather, whiteweed, sandy immortelle, sedum, cat's foot, hairy hawkweed, small sorrel. Fertile areas are preferred by European hoofweed, jasmine, nettle, quinoa, black henbane, raspberry, woodlice, and liverwort.
High nitrogen content is indicated by stinging and stinging nettles, fireweed, spring ragwort, Tatarian quinoa, hops, acorn grass, and marigold. And the presence of plants from the legume family - gorse, horned grass, alfalfa and astragalus - indicates its deficiency. The low nitrogen content in the soil is also indicated by the presence of sundew, toadflax, and toadflax.
Indicators of light soils are sandy immortelle, sedum, and Scots pine. On heavy clay soils, cinquefoil, creeping buttercup, plantain, knotweed, and warty euonymus are often found.
White sandman - indicator of alkaline soils
Woodlouse - indicator neutral soils
Soddy pike - an indicator of very acidic soils
Stinging nettle - high nitrogen content in the soil
Field mint - indicator of slightly acidic soils
If you liked this material, then we offer you a selection of the most the best materials our site according to our readers. You can find a selection - TOP about existing eco-villages, family estates, their history of creation and everything about eco-houses where it is most convenient for youIndicator plants are the subject of study of indicator geobotany and plant ecology. The principles of the theory of phytoindication (indication of environmental conditions using plants) were proposed back in 1910 and 1917. Russian botanist L.G. Ramensky (1938, 1971). To study the environmental conditions of communities, indicator ecological scales are used, containing point estimates of the ecological properties of plant species according to various environmental factors. That is, the scales are tables in which for each species the limits of its distribution are indicated according to the factors of moisture, soil richness, salinity, grazing, etc. For example, according to L.G. Ramensky (1956) identifies the following factors: moisture, moisture variability regime, active soil richness and salinity, alluviality and pasture digression of the meadow. Also popular are the domestic environmental scales of D.N. Tsyganov (1983) and the European scales of G. Ellenberg (Ellenberg, 1974, 1979) and E. Landolt (Landolt, 1977).
In relation to soil acidity There are three main groups of plants: acidophiles - plants of acidic soils, neutrophils - inhabitants of neutral soils, basiphiles - grow on alkaline soils.
In relation to soil moisture stand out: xerophytes - plants of dry habitats (cat's paw, hairy hawkweed, sedum (caustic, purple, large), feather feather grass), mesophytes, plants of ensured moisture (This is most meadow grass: timothy, meadow foxtail, creeping wheatgrass, hedgehog grass, meadow clover, mouse pea, meadow china), hygrophytes - plants with abundant moisture, flowing or stagnant (blueberry, wild rosemary, cloudberry, spleenwort, white-leafed grass, marigold, meadow geranium, forest reed , marsh cinquefoil, meadowsweet, snakeweed, field mint, marsh chickweed).
You can also determine from plants groundwater depth. According to the requirements for soil fertility plants form the following ecological groups: megatrophs - grow on the richest soils (raspberries, nettles, fireweed, meadowsweet, meadowsweet, celandine, hoofed grass, wood sorrel, valerian, meadow rank, awnless brome); mesotrophs - plants in soils sufficiently provided with mineral nutrition ( bifolia, lungwort, angelica, wintergreen, river gravel, meadow fescue, bathhouse, long-leaved speedwell), oligotrophs - plants of poor soils in mineral nutrition (sphagnum (peat) mosses, terrestrial lichens, cat's paw, lingonberry, cranberry, whitebeard, filamentous rush , fragrant spikelet).
In addition to general soil fertility, you can find out supply of soil with certain elements. For example, about high nitrogen content evidenced by nitrophilic plants - fireweed, raspberries, nettles; in meadows and arable land there is the growth of wheatgrass, cinquefoil, and knotweed (knotweed). With a good supply of nitrogen, plants have an intense green color. On the contrary, a lack of nitrogen is manifested by a pale green color of plants, a decrease in branching and the number of leaves.
High supply of calcium show calciophiles: many legumes (for example, crescent alfalfa). With a lack of calcium, calciumphobes dominate - plants of acidic soils: white grass, pike (soddy meadow grass), sorrel, sphagnum, etc. These plants are resistant to the harmful effects of iron, manganese, and aluminum ions.
Thus, in Middle lane In Russia, in meadows with different soil characteristics, you can find different groups of plants.
In dry meadows with acidic and poor soil, plant species often grow abundantly: Small sorrel (8-30 cm), Horsetail (10-15 cm), Sweet spikelet (20-40 cm), Cat's foot (5-15 cm).
In steppe meadows with calcareous soil you can find the following types plants: sickle alfalfa (30-80 cm), gorse (50-100 cm), feather grass, dyeing grass.
In meadows growing in conditions of excessive moisture, the following species are found and often predominate: Soddy pike, Fox sedge, Acute sedge, Meadow geranium, Peppermint, Swamp chickweed, Potentilla goose, Creeping buttercup.
In meadows with rich soil, such plant species grow as: Bonfire, Stinging nettle, Ivan angustifolia, Meadow chin.
For example, the following plants indicate high fertility: raspberries, nettles, fireweed, meadowsweet, celandine, hoofed grass, sorrel, valerian, meadow china, awnless brome, meadowsweet.
Indicators of moderate (average) fertility: bifolia, lungwort, angelica, wintergreen, river grass, meadow fescue, swimwort, longleaf speedwell.
Low fertility is evidenced by sphagnum (peat) mosses, terrestrial lichens, cat's paw, lingonberry, cranberry, whiteberry, filamentous rush, and fragrant spikelet.
Indifferent to soil fertility: caustic buttercup, shepherd's purse, meadow bluegrass, Chernogolovka, orchard grass. Scots pine has little demand for soil fertility.
In addition to the general concept of “soil fertility,” you can find out the supply of certain elements to the soil.
For example, a high nitrogen content is evidenced by nitrophilic plants - fireweed, raspberries, nettles; in meadows and arable land - wheatgrass growth, cinquefoil, knotweed (bird knotweed). With a good supply of nitrogen, plants have an intense green color.
On the contrary, a lack of nitrogen is manifested by a pale green color of plants, a decrease in branching and the number of leaves.
Calciophiles show a high calcium supply: many legumes (for example, crescent alfalfa), Siberian larch.
With a lack of calcium, calcium-phobes dominate - plants of acidic soils: white grass, pike (soddy meadow grass), sorrel, sphagnum, etc. These plants are resistant to the harmful effects of iron, manganese, and aluminum ions.
Plants are indicators of soil water regime.
Indicators of different soil water regimes are hygrophytic plants, mesophytes, and xerophytes.
Moisture-loving plants (hygrophytes) are inhabitants of moist, sometimes swampy soils: blueberry, wild rosemary, cloudberry, spleenwort, white rose, marigold, meadow geranium, forest reed, swamp cinquefoil, meadowsweet, snakeweed, field mint, marsh chickweed.
Plants in places sufficiently provided with moisture, but not damp or swampy, are mesophytes. This is most of the meadow grasses: timothy, meadow foxtail, creeping wheatgrass, cocksfoot, meadow clover, mouse pea, meadow chin, Phrygian cornflower. -In the forest these are lingonberries, stoneweeds, hoofweeds, golden rods, mosses.
Plants of dry habitats (xerophytes): cat's paw, hairy hawkweed, sedum (caustic, purple, large), feather grass, bearberry, white bentgrass, terrestrial lichens.
Plants - depth indicatorsoccurrencegroundwater
Establishing indicators of the depth of groundwater is important for clarifying the properties of soils and for developing recommendations for their reclamation. To indicate the depth of groundwater, groups of herbaceous plant species (indicator groups) can be used. For meadow soils, 5 groups of indicator species are distinguished (Table 1).
Table 1.
Indicator groups of plants - indicators of groundwater depth in meadows
(according to G.L. Remezova, 1976)
|
Indicator group |
Depth of soilwater |
|
I. Bonfire without awn, meadow clover, large plantain, creeping wheatgrass |
More than 150 cm |
|
II. |
|
|
White bentgrass, meadow fescue, mouse pea, meadow chin |
|
|
III. |
|
|
Meadowsweet, canary grass |
IV.
Fox sedge, acute sedge, Langsdorff's reed
V. Soddy sedge, vesicular sedge
In addition to the named groups of plants, there are transitional species that can perform indicator functions, for example, meadow bluegrass, which can be included in both the first and second groups. It indicates the occurrence of water at a depth of 100 to more than 150 cm. Swamp horsetail - from 10 to 100 cm and marsh marigold - from 0 to 50 cm.
One species can also be used as a bioindicator if this species is widespread in a particular habitat.
The depth of soil-groundwater in forest ecosystems and the nature of soil moisture can be determined from Table. 2.
|
Table 2. |
Plants-indicators of the depth of groundwater and the nature of soil moisture |
|
|
(according to S.V. Viktorov et al., 1988) |
||
|
Indicators |
Depth of soil plant groups |
|
|
1. Spruce forest |
European oxalis, European oxalis, |
|
|
double leaf mine |
2. Blueberry spruce forest |
|
|
Blueberries, wood sorrel, green mosses |
3. Long-growing spruce forests" |
|
|
Blueberries, wild rosemary, polytrichum moss |
4. Sphagnum spruce forests |
|
|
Ledum, andromeda, cassandra, sphagnum mosses 5. Oak spruce forests |
Sweet woodruff, lungwort, lanceolate chickweed, green chickweed |
|
|
6. Sosnovo- spruce-oxalis forest |
Oxalis, ferns, green mosses |
|
|
7. Pine-spruce- |
blueberry |
|
|
Blueberries, lingonberries, sorrel, ferns, green mosses |
8. Lichen pine forest |
|
|
Cat's paw, hairy hawkweed, cladonia |
9. Lingonberry pine forest |
|
|
Lingonberries, green mosses |
10. Pine-blueberry |
|
|
Blueberries, sorrel, green mosses |
11. Bracken pine Bracken, wood sorrel, two-leaved mynika |
|
|
12. Long-mossy pine forest |
Blueberries, blueberries, moss |
|
polytrichum13. Sphagnum pine forest
Ledum, cassandra, sphagnum Plants- soils of the forest zone. Increased acidity negatively affects the growth and development of a number of plant species. This occurs due to the appearance in acidic soils of substances harmful to plants, for example, soluble aluminum or excess manganese. They disrupt carbohydrate and protein metabolism in plants, delay the formation of generative organs and lead to disruption of seed reproduction, and sometimes cause plant death.
Increased soil acidity inhibits the activity of soil bacteria involved in the decomposition of organic matter and the release of nutrients needed by plants.
In laboratory conditions, soil acidity can be determined using universal indicator paper, an Alyamovsky kit, or a pH meter, and in field conditions - using indicator plants. In the process of evolution, three groups of plants were formed: acidophiles - plants of acidic soils, neutrophils - inhabitants of neutral soils, basiphiles - grow on alkaline soils. Knowing the plants of each group, in the field conditions it is possible to approximately determine the acidity of the soil (Table 7.3).
Table 7.3.
Plants-indicators of soil acidity (according to L. G. Ramensky, 1956)
|
Bioindicator |
Soil pH |
|
|
Acidophilus 1.1. Extreme acidophiles |
Sphagnum, green mosses: hylocomium, dicranum; |
|
|
club moss, annual moss, oblate moss, hairy moss, cotton grass, polyfolia multifolia, cat's paws, Sphagnum, Cassandra, cetraria, white beetle, soddy pike, horsetail, small sorrel |
1.2. Moderate acidophiles |
|
|
Blueberries, lingonberries, wild rosemary, marsh marigold, cudweed, poisonous buttercup, bearberry, European rosemary, swamp beetle, dog violet, meadow heartsickle, ground reed grass |
1.3. Weak acidophiles |
|
|
Male fern, buttercup anemone, lungwort, green chickweed, nettle-leaved campanula, broad-leaved campanula, spreading boron, hairy sedge, early sedge, raspberry, black currant, speedwell, snake knotweed, bracken, Ivan-da-Marya, hare's sorrel |
1.4. |
|
|
Acidophilic-neutral Green mosses: hylocomium, pleurosium, goat willow |
2. Neutrophils |
|
|
2.1. |
||
|
2.2. Neutral-basiphilic |
Coltsfoot, cinnamon grass, crescent alfalfa, keleria, hairy sedge, horned lambsfoot, |
It has been experimentally shown that leafy mosses can be used as bioindicators of environmental pollution with petroleum products.
leafy mosses
oil pollution
bioindication
1. Gusev A.P., Sokolov A.S. Information and analytical system for assessing anthropogenic disturbance of forest landscapes // Bulletin of Tomsk State University. – 2008. – No. 309. – P. 176–180.
2. Zheleznova G.V., Shubina T.P. Mosses of natural mid-taiga plant communities in the southern part of the Komi Republic // Theoretical and Applied Ecology. – 2010. – No. 4. – P. 76–83.
3. Towards the organization of comprehensive monitoring of the state of the natural environment in the area where the separated parts of launch vehicles fall on the territory of the Northern Urals / I.A. Kuznetsova, I.N. Korkina, I.V. Stavishenko, L.V. Chernaya, M.Ya. Chebotina, S.B. Kholostov // News of the Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. – 2012. – No. 2(10). – pp. 57–67.
4. Serebryakova N.N. The influence of xenobiotics on the physiology and biochemistry of leafy mosses // Bulletin of the Orenburg State University. – 2007. – No. 12. – P. 71–75.
The development of fundamental research related to the stability and change of natural biocenoses under the influence of various anthropogenic factors, including rocket and space activities, does not lose its relevance. The need to predict environmental changes and the consequences caused by them increases in proportion to the increasing impact on natural systems. Equally relevant is the search for ways to prevent negative consequences. However, these issues can only be resolved by determining the very fact of the presence of impact and its degree. This study is devoted to the study of the ability of mosses to be saturated with oil products and the possibility of using them as bioindicators in assessing anthropogenic impact, in particular, oil pollution in the area where the separated parts of Soyuz launch vehicles fell (fuel - aviation kerosene) when launching spacecraft into the sun -synchronous orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The research area is located on the border of Sverdlovsk and Perm regions, coordinates of the center of the impact area (RP) - 60° 00’ N; 58° 54’ E, area - 2206.4 km2. During the period of operation of the territory as an impact area, 6 launch vehicles (LVs) took place: in December 2006, November and December 2007, September 2009, July and September 2012. Fragments of separated parts of launch vehicles (OCLV) were found on the town of Olvinsky Kamen (N 59º 57', E 59º 12'), on the eastern slope of the town of Sennaya Kamen (N 59º 59', E 59º 06') and in the upper reaches of the river . Uls (N 59º 59’, E 58º 59’). When launching launch vehicles, environmental support is provided for the reception of fragments of the high-grade launch vehicle, which consists of assessing the content of petroleum products before and after the fall of the high-grade launch vehicle in the main depositing media (soil, snow, water of water bodies). The results of these works did not reveal any changes in the state of the natural environment after the launch of the launch vehicle, either in a visual assessment or in assessing contamination by rocket and space fuel. The results of background monitoring of the content of petroleum products in depositing media confirmed this conclusion. The same results were obtained during the 2012 launches: no differences were found in the content of petroleum products in pre-launch and post-launch water and soil samples.
In 2011-2012, studies were conducted on the possibility of using green leafy mosses as bioindicators in monitoring the state of the natural environment and quickly assessing changes occurring during aerogenic pollution with oil products. Their ability to accumulate petroleum products during atmospheric pollution has been experimentally established.
The wide distribution, morphological and physiological properties of mosses, their ability to tolerate unfavorable environmental conditions and high sensitivity to ecotoxicants allow the use of these plants as bioindicators. Moss “accepts” all microimpurities from the atmosphere, retaining and accumulating them throughout its life. Despite the fact that in 3-5 years the green (photosynthetic) part of the moss is completely renewed, the moss itself lives much longer. Mosses do not have a root system, and therefore the contribution of sources other than atmospheric deposition is in most cases organic. Applying modern methods chemical analysis it is possible to establish the elemental composition of atmospheric fallout at the collection site and quantify the concentration of one or another chemical substance accumulated by moss over a certain period of time. The use of mosses as indicators of atmospheric pollution has significant advantages over traditional methods, since collecting samples is simple and does not require expensive equipment like for sampling air and sediment; the process of collecting, transporting and storing moss is less labor-intensive.
Most often, for bioindication, it is recommended to use epiphytic mosses that grow on the bark of trees and are practically not associated with the soil (they are practically not affected by the heterogeneous composition of the soil). However, when controlling pollution of the natural environment by products of rocket and space activities, which equally affect all components of the natural complex, this feature of ground mosses does not interfere with the solution of the task.
Material and research methods
In 2011-2012 Experimental studies were carried out on the adsorption ability of green leafy mosses to accumulate petroleum products. Samples for research were selected at the main monitoring points in the area of the fall of the OC LV, since it was immediately intended to use the obtained values as background for further research during environmental support of launch vehicles. Sampling locations are given in Table. 1.
Table 1
|
Sampling sites for leafy mosses Sampling location |
Coordinates |
|
|
Chr. Spruce mane |
N 60º 07’ 17" |
E 59º 18’ 10" |
|
N 60º 06’ 55" |
E 58º 53’ 20" |
|
|
Chr. Kvarkush slope |
N 60º 07’ 30’’ |
E 58º 45’ 25" |
|
Chr. Kvarkush plateau 1 |
N 60º 08’ 21" |
E 58º 47’ 54" |
|
G. Sennaya stone |
N 59º 58’ 34’’ |
E 59º 04’ 59’’ |
|
Main Ural ridge |
N 60º 05’ 27" |
E 59º 08’ 16" |
|
Chr. Kvarkush plateau 2 |
N 60º 09’ 33’’ |
E 58º 41’ 30’’ |
|
G. Kazan stone |
N 60º 06’ 41’’ |
E 59º 02’ 53’’ |
|
G. Olvinsky stone |
N 59о 54’ 10’’ |
E 59о 10’ 10’’ |
|
G. Konzhakovsky stone |
N 59º 37’ 59’’ |
E 59º 08’ 26’’ |
For chemical analysis, samples of leafy mosses of the family Polytrichaceae (polytrichaceae) were taken. When determining the content of petroleum products, moss samples were extracted with hexane, the concentration of petroleum product in the extract was determined using the Fluorate-02 device using the PND F 16.1:2.21-98 method (Methodology for measuring the mass fraction of petroleum products in soil samples using the fluorometric method using a liquid analyzer " Fluorate-02"). Separately, the moisture content of the moss was determined and the concentrations of petroleum products were recalculated to dry matter samples.
The experiment on saturating moss with kerosene was carried out using a static method. A sample of kerosene was placed in a sealed container. After its evaporation, its content in the vapor phase was determined, then a weighed portion of the moss sample was added to the container with the kerosene sample. Since it was assumed that dead and living parts of plants could adsorb oil products differently, in the first year of work the samples were separated according to this criterion, and the dead and living parts were analyzed separately. After exposure for 5 days, the kerosene content in the moss samples was determined. The separation coefficient was calculated as the ratio of the kerosene concentration in the moss sample to the residual kerosene concentration in the vapor phase.
Research results and discussion
In table Figure 2 shows the obtained values of the content of petroleum products in dry moss samples: from 0.008 to 0.056 mg/kg of dry sample (on average 0.028 mg/kg) at a humidity of 23-56%.
Considering that samples to determine the content of petroleum products were taken during periods not associated with the exploitation of the territory in rocket and space activities (i.e., outside launch vehicles), in an area not subject to anthropogenic impact, the obtained values can be assessed in further research as background.
table 2
Results of background monitoring of the state of leaf-stem mosses in the area of falling pH levels
In 2011, a study of the adsorption capacity of mosses began, and first of all, an analysis of the ability to saturate living green and dead parts of moss with oil products was carried out. The detected differences are insignificant and irregular (Table 3), which allows us to ignore them and subsequently use the entire moss sample as an analyzed sample (without dividing it into living and dead parts).
Table 3
Results of an experimental study on the saturation of leafy mosses with kerosene vapors
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Sampling location |
Separation coefficient for the content of petroleum products in dry moss (solid phase)/in the vapor phase |
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upper (green) part of moss |
lower (dead) part of moss |
total moss sample |
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Chr. Spruce mane |
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Chr. Kvarkush slope |
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Chr. Kvarkush plateau 1 |
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G. Sennaya stone |
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Chr. Kvarkush plateau 2 |
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G. Kazan stone |
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G. Olvinsky stone |
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G.Konzhakovsky Stone |
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The results obtained convincingly confirm the possibility of using leafy mosses as bioindicator organisms in the rapid assessment of atmospheric pollution of the natural environment with petroleum products. The fact that living green and dead parts of moss respond equally to saturation with kerosene vapor greatly facilitates the work when using mosses in maintaining the complex ecological state of the natural environment.
Conclusion
As a result of the experimental studies, background values of the level of petroleum products in leafy mosses, widespread in the Northern Urals, including in the area where the separated parts of launch vehicles fell, were obtained. On average, moss tissues in the natural environment contain 0.028 mg/kg dry mass at a humidity of 23-56%. The high adsorption capacity of green mosses has been established: with five-day exposure to kerosene vapor, the content of petroleum products in moss samples increases by an order of magnitude. The results obtained confirm the possibility of using leafy mosses as bioindicators, at least when assessing atmospheric pollution with petroleum products. Determination of background values allows us to recommend the use of this object for environmental support of upcoming launch vehicles both in the territory Sverdlovsk region, as well as in all other areas where the OCRN falls, located in the forest and mountain-forest zones.
The work was carried out under the project of oriented fundamental research within the framework of cooperation agreements of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences with state corporations, scientific and production associations No. 12 -4-006-KA.
Bibliographic link
Kuznetsova I.A., Kholostov S.B. Leafy mosses as bioindicators of oil pollution of the natural environment in the area where the separated parts of launch vehicles fall // Uspekhi modern natural science. – 2013. – No. 6. – P. 98-101;URL: http://natural-sciences.ru/ru/article/view?id=32490 (access date: 02/26/2020). We bring to your attention magazines published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural Sciences"
