1. [Untitled]
- Author
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Evseeva Ti, Geras'kin Sa, E. S. Khramova, and N. P. Frolova
- Subjects
Pollutant ,Pollution ,Ecology ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Biodiversity ,Dandelion ,Environmental pollution ,Hazard ,Taraxacum officinale ,Environmental protection ,Environmental science ,Soil Pollutants ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,media_common - Abstract
The adverse consequences of environmental pollution with a broad spectrum of different substances include the acceleration of mutation and recombination processes, increase of genetic load, and reduction of biological diversity. Under these conditions, it is important not only to preserve the environment and human health as its essential component, but also to solve a more complex problem of the optimal use of biosphere resources. As the combined action of different factors may have synergistic or antagonistic effects, it is principally incorrect to estimate pollution hazard exclusively on the basis of data obtained by means of chemical analysis (Evseeva and Geras’kin, 2000). In relation to this, biological monitoring is of special importance, because it allows an integrated assessment of the consequences of exposure to the complex influence of environmental pollutants for various representatives of living nature. The number of laboratory plants used for pollutant monitoring and express screening is limited, and this creates difficulties in carrying out biomonitoring over large areas. To adequately assess the combined effect of atmospheric and soil pollutants, it is necessary to find new test objects in natural plant populations. The purpose of this work was to analyze the maximal possible number of easily identifiable parameters characterizing the quality of seeds of common dandelion ( Taraxacum officinale Wigg.) in order to choose those allowing express screening under conditions of route survey and adequately responding to the influence of technogenic factors. Taking into account the requirements imposed on test objects (Geras’kin and Koz’min, 1995; Dmitrieva, 2000), we chose the common dandelion ( Taraxacum officinale Wigg.) as a test species for estimating the degree of pollution in the areas exposed to different technogenic loads in the city of Syktyvkar. The dandelion has already been used for assessing the consequences of pollution with radionuclides and wastes of the aluminum industry (Pozolotina, 1988; Nikol’skii
- Published
- 2002