High Adaptive Capacity Research Articles

Achieving change in the Healthcare Sector

Individual health is an essential prerequisite for achieving quality of life. Healthcare is a basic function of a well-functioning social system. Contemporary changes at economic, social and demographic level require healthcare to show a high adaptive capacity to adapt to the inevitable change. Healthcare change processes need to involve different professional sectors and create an active commitment while avoiding competition and conflicts between the parties involved. In order to ensure long-term sustainability in change, inertia must be overcome. Integration of services is also an important element of sustainability and integration of functions. A service that can be more easily integrated into wider clinical systems seems to have a higher probability of sustainability, partly due to easier support from the stakeholders. It also makes it more difficult to remove these services without having a significant impact on the rest of the system. One of the dangers is that the change can become a part of the system and it is considered for granted and not as a project that requires constant development. Therefore, sustainability should be considered as a constantly evolving rather than a final steady state. In Greece, the goal today is to have a patient-centered health care system with a shifted balance of power from the healthcare provider to the consumer. In order to achieve this, it is important to improve the coordination throughout the healthcare system. Effective co-operation between providers is essential to transform the healthcare system in Greece.

Between adaptive capacity and action: new insights into climate change adaptation at the household scale

Research on social vulnerability and adaptation to climate change assumes that increasing amounts of adaptive capacity increase the likelihood of actions to adapt to climate change. We test this assumption as it applies at the scale of households, through a study of the relationship between adaptive capacity and household actions to adapt to wildfire risk in Mount Dandenong, Australia. Here we show a weak relationship exists between adaptive capacity and adaptation, such that high adaptive capacity does not clearly result in a correspondingly high level of adaptation. Three factors appear to mediate the relationship between household adaptive capacity and adaptation: their attitude to risk, their experience of risk, and their expectations of authorities. The findings suggest that to understand the adaptation practices of households, greater attention needs to be paid to socio-psychological factors that trigger people to apply their available capacities.

Сучасний стан бука в дослідних культурах і дендропарках північного сходу України та перспективи його використання

Представлено узагальнені результати обстеження насаджень бука лісового (Fagus sylvatica L.), бука східного (Fagus orientalis Lypsky.) та бука кримського (Fagus taurica Popl.) у дослідних культурах і дендрологічних парках північного сходу України. Метою досліджень було визначення придатності видів для створення насаджень різного цільового призначення в регіоні. Оцінено 11 насаджень бука за комплексом показників, зокрема за особливостями росту, якістю стовбурів, станом і репродукційним розвитком. За результатами комплексного оцінювання буки лісовий і кримський визнано перспективними для створення плантаційних культур. Буки лісовий, східний і кримський доцільно використовувати також для озеленення в Харківській і Сумській областях.

Will dairy cattle production in West Africa be challenged by heat stress in the future?

This study focuses on heat stress conditions for dairy cattle production in West Africa under current and future climatic conditions. After testing the accuracy of the dynamically downscaled climate datasets for simulating the historical daily maximum temperature (Tmax) and relative humidity (RH) in West Africa for 50 meteorological stations, we used the dataset for calculating the temperature-humidity index (THI), i.e., an index indicating heat stress for dairy cattle on a daily scale. Calculations were made for the historical period (1981–2010) using the ERA-Interim reanalysis dataset, and for two future periods (2021–2050 and 2071–2100) using climate predictions of the GFDL-ESM2M, HadGEM2-ES, and MPI-ESM-MR Global Circulation Models (GCMs) under the RCP4.5 emission scenario. Here, we show that during the period from 1981 to 2010 for > 1/5 of the region of West Africa, the frequency of severe/danger heat events per year, i.e., events that result in significant decreases in productive and reproductive performances, increased from 11 to 29–38 days (significant at 95% confidence level). Most obvious changes were observed for the eastern and southeastern parts. Under future climate conditions periods with severe/danger heat stress events will increase further as compared with the historical period by 5–22% depending on the GCM used. Moreover, the average length of periods with severe/danger heat stress is expected to increase from ~ 3 days in the historical period to ~ 4–7 days by 2021–2050 and even to up to 10 days by 2071–2100. Based on the average results of three GCMs, by 2071–2100, around 22% of dairy cattle population currently living in this area is expected to experience around 70 days more of severe/danger heat stress (compare with the historical period), especially in the southern half of West Africa. The result is alarming, as it shows that dairy production systems in West Africa are jeopardized at large scale by climate change and that depending on the GCM used, milk production might decrease by 200–400 kg/year by 2071–2100 in around 1, 7, or 11%. Our study calls for the development of improved dairy cattle production systems with higher adaptive capacity in order to deal with expected future heat stress conditions.

Weather variation and temporary labor migration: a panel data analysis for select semi-arid villages in India

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between weather variation and temporary labor migration. In doing so, we investigate how labor migration is used as an adaptation strategy to weather variation for the select Indian semi-arid villages. We use crop yield deviation as a proxy variable for the weather variation at the household level. In order to investigate the objective of the study, we employ panel data of 210 households using Village Dynamic South Asia (VDSA) data set of six villages from the state of Telangana and Maharashtra for the period 2005–2014. We have used village, state and aggregate level logistic regression models to demonstrate how factors at each of these levels can influence temporary labor migration trajectories. The study finds that the score of crop yield deviation for the non-migrant households is higher as compared to migrant households, which shows that migrant households have a higher adaptive capacity to weather variation as compared to their counterpart households. Further, the empirical evidence from the logistic model shows that along with demographic and socio-economic factors, weather variation influences the temporary migration at aggregate level (full sample estimation). In addition to this, we also find that weather variation is statistically significant in determining temporary migration for entire Maharashtra at state level estimation and only one village (Kalman) at village level estimation.

Selection following Gene Duplication Shapes Recent Genome Evolution in the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum.

Ecology of insects is as wide as their diversity, which reflects their high capacity of adaptation in most of the environments of our planet. Aphids, with over 4,000 species, have developed a series of adaptations including a high phenotypic plasticity and the ability to feed on the phloem sap of plants, which is enriched in sugars derived from photosynthesis. Recent analyses of aphid genomes have indicated a high level of shared ancestral gene duplications that might represent a basis for genetic innovation and broad adaptations. In addition, there are a large number of recent, species-specific gene duplications whose role in adaptation remains poorly understood. Here, we tested whether duplicates specific to the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum are related to genomic innovation by combining comparative genomics, transcriptomics, and chromatin accessibility analyses. Consistent with large levels of neofunctionalization, we found that most of the recent pairs of gene duplicates evolved asymmetrically, showing divergent patterns of positive selection and gene expression. Genes under selection involved a plethora of biological functions, suggesting that neofunctionalization and tissue specificity, among other evolutionary mechanisms, have orchestrated the evolution of recent paralogs in the pea aphid and may have facilitated host–symbiont cooperation. Our comprehensive phylogenomics analysis allowed us to tackle the history of duplicated genes to pave the road toward understanding the role of gene duplication in ecological adaptation.

A new strain group of common carp: The genetic differences and admixture events between Cyprinus carpio breeds.

Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) has an outstanding economic importance in freshwater aquaculture due to its high adaptive capacity to both food and environment. In fact, it is the third most farmed fish species worldwide according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. More than four million tons of common carp are produced annually in aquaculture, and more than a hundred thousand tons are caught from the wild. Historically, the common carp was also the first fish species to be domesticated in ancient China, and now, there is a huge variety of domestic carp strains worldwide. In the present study, we used double digestion restriction site‐associated DNA sequencing to genotype several European common carp strains and showed that they are divided into two distinct groups. One of them includes central European common carp strains as well as Ponto–Caspian wild common carp populations, whereas the other group contains several common carp strains that originated in the Soviet Union, mostly as cold‐resistant strains. We believe that breeding with wild Amur carp and subsequent selection of the hybrids for resistance to adverse environmental conditions was the attribute of the second group. We assessed the contribution of wild Amur carp inheritance to the common carp strains and discovered discriminating genes, which differed in allele frequencies between groups. Taken together, our results improve our current understanding of the genetic variability of common carp, namely the structure of natural and artificial carp populations, and the contribution of wild carp traits to domestic strains.

Assessment of adaptation-adaptive reactions of the pilots ‘body during the round-the-world Arctic flight

Introduction. A comprehensive study of adaptation and changes in the functional state of participants of the Arctic roundthe-world fl ight “North Your” to maintain a high level of performance of pilots remains relevant. Work in conditions of sharp change of climatic zones and transmeridional movement is the cause of the formation of unfavorable functional states of the body — bias natural circadian biological rhythm that can lead to the development of DS, hypertensive reactions, decrease in functional reserves of physiological systems, becoming a risk factor for work-related pathology. The aim of the study is to study the adaptive responses of the participants of the Arctic round-the-world air fl ight to a sharp change in climatic conditions and trans-meridional movements. Materials and methods. The design of the study included a comprehensive laboratory and instrumental examination at the start and fi nish, including clinical and biochemical blood analysis, determination of the degree of DNA damage in cells. Physiological studies of functional stress of the body included an assessment of the characteristics of the state of the cardiovascular system. The objects of research were 7 pilots aged from 39 to 69 years (average age 55.33 years). The research results were processed using the methods of variation statistics. Results. It is revealed that knowledge about functional adaptation is important for understanding the state and predicting the performance and reliability of employees. Conclusions. The results obtained indicate a high adaptive capacity of the pilots' body when working under extreme loads during a round-the-world Arctic fl ight.

Genotype-environment interactions rule the response of a widespread butterfly to temperature variation.

Understanding how organisms adapt to complex environments is a central goal of evolutionary biology and ecology. This issue is of special interest in the current era of rapidly changing climatic conditions. Here, we investigate clinal variation and plastic responses in life history, morphology and physiology in the butterfly Pieris napi along a pan-European gradient by exposing butterflies raised in captivity to different temperatures. We found clinal variation in body size, growth rates and concomitant development time, wing aspect ratio, wing melanization and heat tolerance. Individuals from warmer environments were more heat-tolerant and had less melanised wings and a shorter development, but still they were larger than individuals from cooler environments. These findings suggest selection for rapid growth in the warmth and for wing melanization in the cold, and thus fine-tuned genetic adaptation to local climates. Irrespective of the origin of butterflies, the effects of higher developmental temperature were largely as expected, speeding up development; reducing body size, potential metabolic activity and wing melanization; while increasing heat tolerance. At least in part, these patterns likely reflect adaptive phenotypic plasticity. In summary, our study revealed pronounced plastic and genetic responses, which may indicate high adaptive capacities in our study organism. Whether this may help such species, though, to deal with current climate change needs further investigation, as clinal patterns have typically evolved over long periods.

Burkholderia cepacia Complex Bacteria: a Feared Contamination Risk in Water-Based Pharmaceutical Products

Burkholderia cepacia (formerly Pseudomonas cepacia) was once thought to be a single bacterial species but has expanded to the Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc), comprising 24 closely related opportunistic pathogenic species. These bacteria have a widespread environmental distribution, an extraordinary metabolic versatility, a complex genome with three chromosomes, and a high capacity for rapid mutation and adaptation. Additionally, they present an inherent resistance to antibiotics and antiseptics, as well as the abilities to survive under nutrient-limited conditions and to metabolize the organic matter present in oligotrophic aquatic environments, even using certain antimicrobials as carbon sources. These traits constitute the reason that Bcc bacteria are considered feared contaminants of aqueous pharmaceutical and personal care products and the frequent reason behind nonsterile product recalls. Contamination with Bcc has caused numerous nosocomial outbreaks in health care facilities, presenting a health threat, particularly for patients with cystic fibrosis and chronic granulomatous disease and for immunocompromised individuals. This review addresses the role of Bcc bacteria as a potential public health problem, the mechanisms behind their success as contaminants of pharmaceutical products, particularly in the presence of biocides, the difficulties encountered in their detection, and the preventive measures applied during manufacturing processes to control contamination with these objectionable microorganisms. A summary of Bcc-related outbreaks in different clinical settings, due to contamination of diverse types of pharmaceutical products, is provided.

Estimating the potential for coral adaptation to global warming across the Indo-West Pacific.

The potential of reef-building corals to adapt to increasing sea-surface temperatures is often debated but has rarely been comprehensively modeled on a region-wide scale. We used individual-based simulations to model adaptation to warming in a coral metapopulation comprising 680 reefs and representing the whole of the Central Indo-West Pacific. Encouragingly, some reefs-most notably Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, New Caledonia and the southern half of the Great Barrier Reef-exhibited high capacity for adaptation and, in our model, maintained coral cover even under a rapid "business-as-usual" warming scenario throughout the modeled period (200years). Higher resilience of these reefs was observed under all tested parameter settings except the models prohibiting selection and/or migration during warming. At the same time, the majority of reefs in the region tended to collapse within the first 100years of warming. The adaptive potential (odds of maintaining high coral cover) of a given reef could be predicted based on two metrics: the reef's present-day temperature, and the proportion of recruits immigrating from warmer locations. The latter metric explains the most variation in adaptive potential, and significantly correlates with actual coral cover changes observed throughout the region between the 1970s and the early 2000s. These findings will help prioritize coral conservation efforts and plan assisted gene flow interventions to boost the adaptive potential of specific coral populations.

Measuring local sea-level rise adaptation and adaptive capacity: A national survey in the United States

Sea-level rise (SLR) has increasingly manifested the need for adaptation in the United States (US) coastal areas. Few empirical studies have investigated the extent of local SLR adaptation and adaptive capacity on a national scale. To address this research gap, I conducted a national survey among 231 coastal localities in the US and obtained 86 individual copies of surveys, with a response rate of 37.2%. I then employed multivariate regression models to examine the relationship between local actions and adaptive capacity while controlling for socioeconomic variations. Based on the survey results, I find that, at this nascent stage, the coastal localities are more actively investing in adaptation planning than actions. Among the adaptation actions, they generally preferred the protection and accommodation strategies to those of the managed retreat. Localities in this sample reported medium to low adaptive capacity, with leadership, funding, staff, and political environment being the weakest capacity elements. The regression results indicate that localities with higher adaptive capacity have been implementing more adaptation than those with limited capacity. This empirical research provides a first glance into local SLR adaptation and sheds light on the plausible pathways to building local adaptive capacity and improving coastal resilience through adaptation.

How Las Vegas' tourism could survive an economic crisis?

During the global recession of 2008, the demand for international tourism decreased. However, even during the recession, some tourism destinations benefitted from stabilized or even increasing international tourism demands. This paper analyzes factors which contribute to the growing international tourism demand in a destination. The empirical results identified three factors that helped Las Vegas survive the recession with the growing international demand: (1) the combined effect of the greater income elasticity of the visitors from Asia and Oceania due to fast income growth in the region, (2) Las Vegas' tourism product diversification through its high adaptive capacity which intensified its unique attractiveness and resulted in inelastic demand response to tourism price change, (3) “word-of-mouth” effect from the international visitors with a higher satisfaction level from diversified tourism products. Above all, diversification of tourism products and visitor origins was key to distribute the risk during an economic crisis with growing uncertainty and to stimulate a faster recovery thanks to the within-sector diversification in the tourism industry. Las Vegas' successful recovery was possible due to its adaptive capability in complex adaptive system (CAS). Highly specialized service-oriented regional economies can enhance regional resilience by improving adaptive capacity towards within-sector related variety.

The Adaptive Capacity Index of Smallholder Farmers to Climate Related Shocks in Kinakomba Ward, Tana River County, Kenya

According to IPCC (2014) Adaptive capacity is the ability of systems, institutions, humans and other organisms to adjust to potential damage, take advantage of opportunities and respond to consequences arising. In a climate change context it relates to inter-relationship of social, political, economic, technological and institutional factors operating at a variety of scales Vincent, Katharine (2007) some genetic while others exposure specific. This study analyzed the adaptive capacity to climate related shocks of 390 farming households in Kinakomba Ward. The objective was: To determine the adaptive capacity index of the smallholder farmers in Kinakomba Ward. The index included five indicators of human resources, physical resources, financial resources, information and livelihoods diversity (Eakin and Bojorquez-Tapia 2008). The researcher used two methods to analyse adaptive capacity: Firstly an interview with 390 farming households to gather data on farming and household characteristics and Natural resources availability and secondly a panel of 15 Key Informants provided ratings of indicators of adaptive capacity using analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) the results indicated that Livelihoods Diversity had the highest adaptive capacity score at 0.3 while the lowest adaptive capacity for Criterion was information at 0.12. Meaning that Livelihoods diversity was 3 times more preferred than information. The panel of key informants gave this alternative the highest weight and so this was the single adaptive capacity for Kinakomba ward. The results further revealed that occupational multiplicity had the highest score at 0.21 the panel of the key informants gave this indicator a high rating thus making it have the highest adaptive capacity while the lowest was given to infrastructure at 0.03, meaning occupational multiplicity at 0.21was 6 times more preferred to infrastructure at 0.03. The study concluded that When the Number of livelihoods sources are many and when the number of members in the household are also having different sources of livelihoods, then that household has a high adaptive capacity. Consequently when all the members of the households are adults and each has a job then the adaptive capacity of that household is high while a high dependency ratio leads to low adaptive capacity. The study recommended that the County and National governments and stakeholders to employ measures to adapt to climate change and variability. Keywords ; Analytic Hierarchy process(AHP), Adaptive Capacity, Key informants, Analytical Network Process (ANP) software, Super Decisions version 3.0 DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/95-07 Publication date: March 31 st 2020

Development of composite vulnerability index and district level mapping of climate change induced drought in Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract In India, Tamil Nadu is one of the states most vulnerable to drought impacting agriculture and allied activities. This study attempts to develop a new composite drought vulnerability index (CDVI) comprising both crop and dairy indicators for 30 districts of Tamil Nadu, India. The computation of index was based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) approach using exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. Initially, indicators were normalized to make sure that all the indicators are comparable and weights were assigned to each indicator based on principal component analysis. Then, the districts were classified as high, moderate and less vulnerable on the basis of magnitude of the index. Coimbatore has the highest exposure to drought vulnerability (0.58) and the lowest was in Krishnagiri (0.35). In case of sensitivity, the highest was in Kancheepuram (0.69), while the lowest was in Tiruppur (0.26). The highest adaptive capacity was observed in Nagapattinam (0.52) and the lowest was in Tiruppur (0.24). None of the districts had higher adaptive capacity than sensitivity and exposure, combinedly. Overall, CDVI was highest in Kanchipuram (0.88), lowest in Erode (0.45) and moderate in Thanjavur (0.73). District level vulnerability mapping showed that twelve districts were categorized as highly vulnerable to drought; eight districts as moderately vulnerable; and ten districts as less vulnerable. Most of the districts in north eastern and southern agro-climatic zones; a few districts in Cauvery delta and western zones of Tamil Nadu had come under high vulnerable category, while a majority of the districts in north western, western and high rainfall zones were less vulnerable. To mitigate drought vulnerability, government should focus and aid in developing regional level adaptation strategies such as water conserving techniques/farm pond and appropriate policy measures to safeguard the livelihood from agriculture and dairying. Also, special attention may be given to local people’s understandings about drought including traditional practices to cope-up vulnerability.

Адаптация сортов яровой твердой пшеницы в степной зоне Акмолинской области

Abstract. The purpose of the work is to identify varieties of spring durum wheat on a complex of features, the most adapted to the conditions of Northern Kazakhstan, as well as the conjugacy of relations between the elements of the structure of yield and grain yield. The research material was an expanded set of promising and registered varieties of spring durum wheat: Damsinskaya yubileynaya, Damsinskaya 90, Sharifa, Khorosan, Solnechnaya 573, Altayka, Korona, Sid 88. The article presents the results of the study on the features of the interphase periods in varieties and the growing season as a whole, identifies economic and valuable features and elements of the structure of the yield of spring durum wheat in the steppe zone of Akmola region, as well as the technological evaluation of grain. Results. The vegetation period of spring durum wheat varieties averaged 76 days within the group, the longest vegetation period was observed in the standard variety Damsinskaya yubileynaya – 82 days, the shortest in the varieties Altayka and Khorosan – 71 days. The highest yield showed the kind of Sheriff – 2.3 t/ha compared to the standard Damsinskaya yubileynaya of 2.1 t/ha. For technological assessment grade Khorasan showed the best indicator of gluten to 38.4 % in comparison with the standard Damsinskaya yubileynaya – 36,2 %. The correlation between the growing season and yield of spring durum wheat varieties was revealed. Scientific novelty. In the steppe zone of Akmola region, a set of new promising varieties of spring durum wheat, characterized by good yield, high adaptive capacity, in comparison with zoned varieties, the technological assessment of grain is determined.

Vulnerability and Risk Assessment of a State University in the Philippines

This descriptive comparative research determined the vulnerability and risk index including the adaptive capacity of the university exposed elements: population, natural resources, and facilities. A researcher-made survey questionnaire was used to determine the adaptive capacity of these elements and was administered to 598 respondents composed of students, faculty, and non-teaching personnel from the three campuses. An assessment survey was also conducted over three groups of purposively selected students, personnel, and external stakeholders for vulnerability and risk. Using descriptive and inferential analysis, the study yielded a high adaptive capacity for all exposed elements and a significant difference when the respondents were grouped into campuses. Likewise, all campuses have a very low vulnerability and low risk to landslide but have a different risk to flooding: B has a high risk, A is moderate, while C has no risk. Findings suggest that each campus has to be treated differently to address priority areas.

The different hormonal system during exercise stress coping in horses.

The review discusses the hormonal changes during exercise stress. The exercise generally produces a rise of adrenaline (A), noradrenaline (NA), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, glucagon, growth hormone, arginine vasopressine, etc., and a drop of insulin. The hormonal events during reestablishment of homeostasis due to exercise stress can be divided into a catabolic phase, with decreased tolerance of effort, and reversible biochemical, hormonal and immunological changes, and an anabolic phase, with a higher adaptive capacity, and enhanced performance. The two main hormonal axes activated in the catabolic phase are sympathetic–adrenal–medullary system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, while in the anabolic phase, growth hormone-insulin-like factor I axis, and gonadal axes. The hormonal responses during exercise and recovery can be regarded as regulatory and integrated endocrine responses. The increase of catecholamines and ACTH is dependent on the intensity of exercise; a marked increase in plasma A occurs during exercises with high emotional content. The response of cortisol is correlated with the duration of exercise, while the effect of exercise duration on b-endorphin changes is highly dependent on the type of exercise performed. Cortisol and b-endorphin changes usually occur in phase, but not during exercises with high emotional content. Glucocorticoids and iodothyronines are involved in meeting immediate energy demands, and a model of functional interactions between HPA axis and hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis during exercise stress is proposed. A modulation of coping responses to different energy demanding physical activities required for sport activities could be hypothesized. This review supports the proposed regulation of hypophysiotropic TRHergic neurons as metabolic integrators during exercise stress. Many hormonal systems (ghrelin, leptin, glucose, insulin, and cortisol) are activated to control substrate mobilizations and utilization. The cardiovascular homeostasis, the fluid and electrolyte balance during exercise are highly dependent on vasoactive hormones (antidiuretic hormone, atrial natriuretic peptide, renin–angiotensin–aldosterone, and prostaglandins) control.

Pediatric Bilateral Condylar High Displaced Fracture: Ten Years Follow-Up

The treatment of mandibular condylar fractures is a controversial topic in maxillofacial surgery. Open surgery with anatomic reduction and internal rigid fixation is well established in the literature and appears to be the most common approach. Nonsurgical therapies are indicated to intracapsular fractures, medial condylar displacement, and pediatric trauma. The high capacity of tissue remodeling and articular adaptation are important factors to support nonsurgical treatment in pediatric patients. The purpose of this article is to present a case of a pediatric mandibular bilateral condylar fracture treated with closed reduction with 10 years of follow-up and a discussion based on the literature.

Особливості функціонування фотосинтетичного апарату листя дерев перспективних сортів і форм сливи (Prunus domestica L.)

The influence of the photosynthetic apparatus on the formation of the economic and biological traits of the plum 13 cultivars and 10 elite forms of different ripening terms was evaluated at the L.P. Symyrenko Research Station of Pomology and in the Laboratory of the Plant Physiology and Microbiology of the Institute of Horticulture of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine. Those cvs and forms were bred inland and abroad. The morphological physiological indicators – the leaf blade surface, specific leaf surface density, content of water as well as of the chlorophylls a and b were used in order to analyze the leaf apparatus organization. The close correlation was revealed of pigments amount variability and above mentioned chlorophylls ratio, on the one hand, and negative correlation (r = -0,85) between chlorophyll b content and ratio of the both mentioned chlorophylls, on the other hand. That confirms the high adaptive capacity and regulatory possibilities of the plum trees leaves chloroplasts pigment systems concerning the light regime changes in the crown. The researches have shown that the correlation between the water content and leaf surface (r = 0,35) is not significant. Thus, leaves with the more intensive metabolism are characterized with somewhat strained water homeostasis. During the investigations years in the group of the early ripening the varieties Oda and Herman distinguish themselves for the highest yield (13,68 t/ha and 14,03 t/ha respectively), among middle-ripening the cultivars Cacakska Najbolia (17,57 t/ha), Yantarna Mliivska (17,40 t/ha), Zamanchyva (15,89 t/ha) and the hybrid form № 12516 (15,66 t/ha), late-ripening cv Bluefree (16,35 t/ha) and the hybrid № 8124 (Prestige – 16,18 t/ha) under the similar cultivation conditions.