Abstract
Bioindicational evaluation of environmental quality on the territory of Yakutsk and Mirny (East Siberia, Yakutia) has been performed. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) value of leaves of the Japanese White Birch Betula platyphylla Sukacz. was examined and soil condition was assessed by occurrence of Mitosis Pathologies (MP) in germinating Japanese leek Allium fistulosum L. cultivated on samples of lawn soils. About 18,000 leaves and 37 soil samples (over 20,000 anaphase and telophase cells) was examined. In most samples from city territories statistically significant increase in FA and MP in comparison to unimpaired habitats was registered. Positive correlation between FA value and traffic load as well as total content of heavy metals in soil was found. On the territory of the administrative center (Yakutsk), motor transport was found to be the main source of the pollution. Consequently major streets, especially in the immediate vicinity of roadways, and crossroads with heavy traffic load suffer from pollution most. On the territory of the industrial center (Mirny) pollution spreads from technogenically impaired areas to the residential area. Developmental stability abnormalities and total mutagenic background indicate deterioration of environmental conditions as a consequence of combined impact of negative factors arising from anthropogenically transformed environment.
Highlights
Evaluation of environment fitness is a very important task both for planning and carrying out any nature management, nature protection, and environmental safety measures
Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) value of leaves of the Japanese White Birch Betula platyphylla Sukacz. was examined and soil condition was assessed by occurrence of Mitosis Pathologies (MP) in germinating Japanese leek Allium fistulosum L. cultivated on samples of lawn soils
Average FA values for each zone can be seen in the table 2; it shows that FA value of the Japanese White Birch differs between the zones with a high degree of statistical significance
Summary
Evaluation of environment fitness is a very important task both for planning and carrying out any nature management, nature protection, and environmental safety measures. One of promising approaches to characterizing environmental quality is assessment of organism condition by detecting abnormalities of developmental stability, which is characterized by the level of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of morphological structures (Zakharov, 1987). These insignificant differences between the sides of the body or an organ developing during organogenesis do not have adaptive significance in their own right and do not have noticeable impact on individual viability (Leary & Allendorf, 1989). Representing a form of phenotypic variability fluctuating asymmetry is determined by both genotype and environmental factors
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