Use of the bioindication method of fluctuating asymmetry of the maple leaf (Acer Platanoides L.) for assessing the quality of the enviroment in the populated areas

Abstract

Such natural sciences as biology, biogeochemistry, ecology and geobotany study and use bioindication. It is a modern new and helpful scientific direction. The methodology of fluctuating asymmetry worked out in the framework of phytoindication is a convenient, cheap and the closest to natural objects tool for studying of macroscopic changes in the development of bioobjects owing to the negative natural and anthropogenic stress effects. Purpose. Evaluation of the quality of the environment on the violation of the bilateral symmetry of the maple leaf and the appearance of a fluctuating asymmetry of the sides of the leaf’s sheet relative to the central vein under the influence of the anthropogenic load. Analysis of well-known evaluation systems for assessing the quality of the environment. Methods. Phytoindication as one of the bioindication methods with using plants (maple leaves). The fluctuating asymmetry method: measuring 4 parameters on the left and right sides of a leaf and defining of the form of a leaf top. Mathematical processing of the results of all measurements (1376 measures) based on the Microsoft Excel program. Results. A statistical evaluation of the leaf measures was made for 7 indices of the central tendency and variability. The fluctuation asymmetry index for the biomaterial of all the investigated sites of six districts in Odessa in the summer period of 2016 was calculated and tested for normal distribution. The quality of the environment is determined using two point systems in the different areas of the resort city and the suburb. Conclusions. Statistical processing of all platelet measurements showed the suitability of using the measured features and the maple leaf itself for the purpose of phytoindication. A greater validity of the G.M. Melkumov’s point system was shown when determining the quality of the environment by the integral fluctuation asymmetry index of the maple leaf. In fact, the industrial zones of the city, its park and central parts have a high degree of pollution, although not reaching a critical level.