Mosses indicators. Moss is a natural indicator of pollution

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Target: Study and definition of lichens as an indicator of air purity.

Tasks:

- Determine the role of lichens as indicators of air purity.

- Compare experimental data.

Relevance:

Lichens are the pioneers of vegetation, but they are one of the most important determinants of air purity.

Novelty: Research on lichens is being conducted for the first time on the territory of the Tandy settlement.

Introduction

The most acute environmental problem is air pollution, since pollutants are regularly released into the air.

Fuel combustion products of vehicles, boiler room emissions, combustion products during fires, etc. enter the lowest (surface) layer of the atmosphere. The conditions for their dispersion are determined by the state of the atmosphere. The wind plays a decisive role in this: in windy weather it is well ventilated, the concentration of pollutants is low. In calm weather, the "purity" of the surface air is determined by the processes of vertical mixing. Under favorable conditions, they ensure the removal of impurities into the upper atmosphere and the supply of clean air from there.

Air pollution leads to a decrease in the thickness of the ozone layer and the formation of ozone holes. Scientists estimate that reducing the ozone layer by 1% will increase the intensity of UV radiation on the Earth's surface by 2%, which will increase the incidence of skin cancer in humans by 3-6%. In addition, air pollution leads to an increase in air humidity, an increase in the amount of fog in the city and a cloudy atmosphere - a greenhouse effect is formed.

And also atmospheric pollution affects the state of drinking sources and the state of flora and fauna.

But most importantly, polluted air has a huge impact on human health and well-being. With highly polluted air, people get inflamed eyes, mucous membranes of the nose and throat, symptoms of suffocation, exacerbation of the lungs and various chronic diseases, such as chronic bronchitis, and even lung cancer.

Thus, the problem of air pollution is urgent, and we decided to find out how much the air is polluted in our legacy. There are various methods for studying the level of air pollution. There are also instrumental methods for determining the content of harmful impurities in the air, which are used by state environmental organizations in order to monitor the air environment. However, such methods are not available to us. We have chosen the most accessible method for assessing the degree of air pollution - lichen indication. That is, we have chosen lichens as indicators of the state of the air. The object of the study was the territories in the center of the village and in the outskirts of the village.

Characteristics of lichens

Lichens received the Russian name for their visual similarity with the manifestations of certain skin diseases, which are collectively called "lichens". The Latin name comes from the Greek (lat. Lichen) and translates as a wart, which is associated with the characteristic shape of the fruiting bodies of some representatives.

Behind the discordant name of these plants, there is a world amazing in its originality.

As organisms, lichens were known to scientists and among the people long before the discovery of their essence. Even the great Theophrastus (371 - 286 BC) "the father of botany", gave a description of two lichens - Usnea and Rocella. Gradually the number of known species of lichens increased. In the 17th century, only 28 species were known. French doctor and the botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in his system singled out lichens into a separate group in the composition of mosses.Although by 1753 more than 170 species were known, Karl Linnaeus described only 80, describing them as "a poor peasantry of vegetation", and included, together with liverworts in the composition "Terrestrial algae".

Lichens are a group of symbiotic organisms in the body of which two components are combined: autotrophic - algae or cyanobacteria and heterotrophic - fungus. Together they form a single organism. Each lichen species is characterized by a constant form of symbiosis that has developed in the process of historical development - the mutually beneficial cohabitation of a particular fungus with a particular alga.

The division of lichens into classes and families is carried out in accordance with the belonging of the type of fungus - a component of the lichen - to a certain department of mushrooms that make up lichens is referred to the Ascomycot department, and a small part to the Basidiomycot department.

Lichens are diverse in size, their sizes vary from several to tens of centimeters. Lichen body presented thallus, or thallus. Depending on the resulting pigment, it can be gray, bluish, greenish, brownish brown, yellow, orange or almost black.

Now there are about 25 thousand species of lichens. And every year scientists discover and describe dozens and hundreds of new unknown species. The appearance of these plants is bizarre and varied. Known are rod-shaped, bushy, leafy, membranous, tangle-like, “naked” and densely covered with scales (phyllodadia) lichens with a thallus in the form of a club and a film, beard and even “multi-storey” towers.

Depending on the appearance, three main morphological types are distinguished: crustose, foliose and bushy lichens. In nature, lichens occupy several ecological niches: epilithic, epiphytic, epixilic, ground and aquatic.

Thallus of scale lichens is a crust "scale", the lower surface grows tightly with the substrate and does not detach without significant damage. This allows them to live on bare ground, on steep mountain slopes, trees, and even on concrete walls. Sometimes crustacean lichen develops inside the substrate and is completely invisible from the outside.

Leafy lichens have the form of plates of different shapes and sizes. They are more or less tightly attached to the substrate with the help of outgrowths of the lower cortical layer.

Bushy have a more complex structure. Thallus forms many rounded or flat branches. They grow on the ground or hang from trees, wood debris, rocks. On the substrate, they attach only at their base.

Lichens are attached to the substrate by special outgrowths located on the lower side of the thallus - rhizoids (if the outgrowths are formed only by hyphae of the lower cortex), or by rhizines (if these outgrowths also include core hyphae).

I.1 Lichens as environmental indicators

Lichens are a very peculiar group of spore plants, consisting of two components - a fungus and a unicellular, less often filamentous algae, which live together as a whole organism. In this case, the function of the main reproduction and nutrition at the expense of the substrate belongs to the fungus, and the function of photosynthesis belongs to the algae. Lichens are sensitive to the nature and composition of the substrate on which they grow, to microclimatic conditions and the composition of the air, due to the extraordinary "longevity" of lichens, they can be used to date the age of various objects on the basis of measuring their thalli - in the range from several decades to several millennia ...

Lichens were chosen as the object of global monitoring because they are widespread throughout the globe and because their reaction to external influences is very strong, and their own variability is insignificant and extremely slowed down in comparison with other organisms.

Of all the ecological groups of lichens, the most sensitive are epiphytic lichens (or epiphytes), that is, lichens growing on the bark of trees. The study of these species, in the largest cities of the world, revealed a number of general patterns: the more industrialized the city, the more polluted, the less species of lichens are found within its borders, the smaller the area covered by lichens on tree trunks, the lower the "vitality" of lichens.

Lichens are an integral indicator of the state of the environment and indirectly reflect the general "favorability" of a complex of abiotic environmental factors to biotic ones.

In addition, most of the chemical compounds that negatively affect the lichen flora are part of the main chemical elements and compounds contained in the emissions of most industrial industries, which makes it possible to use lichens precisely as indicators of anthropogenic load.

All this predetermined the use of lichens and lichen indication in the system of global monitoring of the state of the environment.

I.2. Lichen classification

There are three main types of lichen thalli: crusty (crustal), leafy and bushy, between which there are transitional forms. The most simple ones are scale, and cortical, like the bark of a tree. They grow on the surface of soil, rocks, on the bark of trees and shrubs, grow tightly with the substrate and do not separate from it without significant damage.

More highly organized lichens have leafy thallus in the form of plates, spread over the substrate and fused with it through bundles of hyphae. On the substrate, leafy lichens look like scales, rosettes, or usually large plates cut into lobes.

The most complexly organized thallus is bushy, in the form of columns or ribbons, usually branched and fused with the substrate only at the base. The vertical growth of the thallus allows it to better use sunlight for photosynthesis.

In most lichens, the thallus has upper and lower cortical layers of dense interweaving of mushroom filaments, between which there is a core - a loose layer of fungi strengthens the thallus and protects algae from excessive light. The main function of the core layer is to conduct air to algal cells containing chlorophyll.

The symbiotic relationship between the fungus and algae is manifested in the fact that the filaments of the fungus in the body of the lichen, as it were, perform the function of roots, and the cells of algae play the role of leaves of green plants - photosynthesis and the accumulation of organic matter take place in them. The fungus provides organic matter to the alga. Thus, lichens represent autogelerotrophic organisms. Lichens, as a whole organism, have new biological qualities that are unusual for its components outside of symbiosis. Thanks to this, lichens live where neither algae nor fungi can live separately. The physiology of fungi and algae in the lichen thallus also differs in many respects from the physiology of free-living fungi and algae.

Among lichens, groups of species are distinguished that grow on soil, trees, slopes, etc. Inside them, even smaller groups can be distinguished: inhabiting either calcareous or siliceous rocks, on the bark of trees, bare wood, on leaves (in evergreens), etc. substances. They are very demanding on air purity, do not tolerate smoke, soot and especially sulfurous gases of industrial areas.

Found in all biogeographic zones, especially in temperate and cold areas, as well as in the mountains. Lichens can tolerate long-term drying. Their photosynthesis and nutrition cease at this time. Resistance to drought and low temperature allows them to survive periods of sharp changes in living conditions and return to life even at low temperatures and low CO2 content, when many plants die.

I.3. Breeding lichens

Lichens reproduce mainly vegetatively - in parts of the thallus. Fragile in dry weather, lichens break easily from the touch of animals or people; individual pieces, hitting the appropriate conditions, develop into a new thallus. However, they can also reproduce by spores, which are formed sexually or asexually.

The wide distribution of lichens is due to many factors, of which the main ones are their ability to withstand the adverse effects of the environment, the ease of vegetative reproduction, the distance and high speed of transfer of individual parts of the thallus by the wind.

According to the nature of sexual sporulation, lichens belong to two classes: marsupials (reproduce by spores that ripen in bags), which include almost all varieties of lichens, and basidial (spores ripen in basidia), numbering only a few dozen species.

Reproduction of lichens is carried out by sexual and asexual (vegetative) methods. As a result of the sexual process, spores of the lichen crest are formed, which develop in closed fruiting bodies - peptings with a narrow excretory opening upward, or in apothecia, wide open to the bottom. Overgrown spores, having met an alga corresponding to their species, form a new thallus with it.

Vegetative reproduction consists in the regeneration of the thallus from its small areas (fragments, twigs). Many lichens have special outgrowths - isidia, which easily break off and give rise to a new thallus. In other lichens, tiny granules (sredia) are formed, in which algae cells are surrounded by dense clusters of hyphae; these granules are easily carried by the wind.

Lichens get everything they need for life from the air and atmospheric precipitation and, at the same time, do not have special devices that prevent various pollutants from entering their bodies. Various oxides are especially detrimental to lichens, which form acids of one concentration or another when combined with water. Entering the thallus, such compounds destroy the chloroplasts of algae, the balance between the components of the lichen is disturbed, and the body dies. Therefore, many types of lichens are rapidly disappearing from areas subject to significant pollution. But it turns out not all.

In any case, the death of certain species should be an alarming signal not only for people living in a particular area, but for all of humanity.

Since lichens are very sensitive to air pollution and die at a high content of carbon monoxide, sulfur, nitrogen and fluorine compounds, they can be used as living indicators of the cleanliness of the environment. This method was called lichen indication (from the Greek "lichen" - lichen)

I.4. The meaning of lichens

The importance of lichens is great. As autoheterotrophic components of natural systems, they accumulate solar energy, forming a certain biomass, and at the same time decompose organic matter to mineral. As a result of their vital activity, the soil is prepared for the settlement of plants.

In the tundra, where lichens are especially abundant, they serve as food for reindeer. Reindeer moss - reindeer moss - is of the greatest importance in this respect. Lichens and some wild animals are used as food, for example: roe deer, moose, deer. Lichens serve as indicators (indicators) of air purity, as they are very sensitive to air pollution.

Thanks to lichen acids (a joint product of a fungal and algal partnership), lichens act as pioneers of vegetation in nature. They are involved in the processes of weathering and soil formation.

But lichens have a negative effect on architectural monuments, causing their gradual destruction. As the thallus of lichens develops, they deform and bubble, and a special microclimate arises in the formed cavities, which contributes to the destruction of the substrate. That is why the lichen mosaic on the surface of ancient monuments is very disturbing for restorers and keepers of antiquity.

On peat bogs, lichens inhibit the growth of shrubs. Sometimes areas of soil between lichen cushions and vascular plants are completely devoid of vegetation, since lichen acids act both directly and at a distance (confirmed by laboratory experiments).

Lichen acids not only inhibit, but also stimulate the growth of some organisms. In those places where lichens grow, many soil microscopic fungi and bacteria feel great.

Lichen acids have a bitter taste, so only some snails and reindeer, who are very fond of lichen and tundra cladonia, eat them.

In severe hungry years, people often added lichens crushed into flour when baking bread. To remove the bitterness, they were previously doused with boiling water.

Lichens have long been known as a source of useful chemicals. More than 100 years ago, lichenologists paid attention to the fact that under the influence of solutions of iodine, alkali and bleach, they turn into different colors. Lichen acids do not dissolve in water, but dissolve in acetone, chloroform, ether. Many of them are colorless, but there are also colored compounds: yellow, red, orange, purple.

In medicine, lichens were used by the ancient Egyptians in 2000 BC. Their acids have antibiotic properties.

Karl Linnaeus in 1749 mentioned seven medicinal types of lichens. At that time, tampons were made from parmelia rocky to stop bleeding from the nose, and a cough remedy was prepared from red-fruited cladonia. The drugs were successfully used to treat skin diseases, burns, and postoperative wounds.

Medicinal preparations of Icelandic cetraria are used both in official and folk medicine for the treatment of diseases of the upper respiratory tract, bronchial asthma, tuberculosis, infectious skin diseases, purulent wounds and burns. In many countries, including Russia, medicinal syrups and pastilles are prepared.

Pharmacological studies have shown that the sodium salt of usnic acid has bacteriostatic and bactericidal properties against staphylococci, streptococci and subtilis bacteria. Its broth raises the tone of the body, regulates the activity of the stomach, and treats diseases of the respiratory tract. The drug sodium usninat was developed at the Botanical Institute. VL Komarov in St. Petersburg and named binan in honor of this institute. Binan on fir balsam heals burns, and an alcohol solution helps with angina.

The most unexpected use in perfumery, although it was known in the 15th - 18th century. In ancient Egypt, a powder was obtained from them, which was used to prepare powder.

Lichen acids obtained from various types of parmelia, northern and ramalin have the ability to fix odors, which is why they are still used in the perfumery industry today. An alcoholic extract from lichens (rhizinoid) is added to perfumes, colognes and soaps. The substances that are contained in Evernia plum are good aroma fixers, therefore they are used to make perfumes and flavor bread.

Some lichens are eaten. In Japan, for example, the edible gyrophora (gyrophora tsculenta), a leafy lichen growing on rocks, is considered a delicacy. Long known under the name "lichen manna", edible asticilia (Asticilia esculenna), forming a kind of "nomadic" globular lumps in the steppes, deserts and arid mountain areas. The wind sometimes carries these balls over long distances. Perhaps this is where the biblical tradition of the "manna from heaven" originated, sent by God to the Jews who wandered in the desert on their way out of Egyptian slavery. And in Egypt itself, peeling evernia (Evernia furfuracea) was added to baked bread so that it did not stale for a long time.

According to the composition of lichens, using the developed scales and formulas, the concentration of various pollutants in the air is determined. They are classic biological indicators. Also, the entire surface of lichens absorbs rainwater, where many toxic gases are concentrated. The most dangerous for lichens are nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, fluorine compounds. In the last decade, it has shown that sulfur compounds have the most negative effect on them, especially sulfur dioxide, which already in a concentration of 0.08-0.1 mg / m3 inhibits most lichens, and a concentration of 0.5 mg / m3 is destructive for almost all species.

Lichens are successfully used in environmental monitoring. They serve as indicators of the environment, as they are highly sensitive to chemical pollution. Resistance to adverse conditions is facilitated by a low growth rate, the presence of various methods of extracting and accumulating moisture, and developed defense mechanisms.

The Russian researchers M.G. Nifontova and her colleagues found that lichens accumulate radionucleotides by several values more than herbaceous plants. Bushy lichens accumulate more isotopes than foliose and scale lichens, therefore, these species are chosen to control radioactivity in the atmosphere. Ground lichens accumulate mainly cesium and cobalt, while epiphytes accumulate mainly strontium and iron. Epiliths growing on stones accumulate very little radioactive elements. The leaching of isotopes from thalli is strongly inhibited, due to long periods of dehydration, so lichens serve as a barrier to the further spread of harmful radiation. Due to the ability to accumulate isotopes, lichens are used as indicators of radioactive contamination of the environment.

II. Main part

II.1. Laying test sites

In each study area, five trees of the same species were selected, which were located at a distance of 5-10 m from each other, were approximately the same age and size, and did not have any damage. A palette, divided into squares, at a height of approximately 1 m, tightly to the trunk of each tree.

The data obtained were processed according to the formula: R = (100a + 50v) / s,

where: R - degree of coverage of a tree trunk with lichens (%);

a - the number of grid squares in which lichens visually occupy more than half of the square area;

c - the number of grid squares in which lichens visually occupy less than half of the square;

c is the total number of grid squares.

Air pollution results are shown in Table 1.

Table 1.

Assessment of the degree of pollution of the atmospheric air of the territory

Experiment area	Tree type	Number of lichens	Lichen species	Air purity
Soloobut (1 section)	larch	More than half of the square is covered with lichen	Scale (yellow, gray)	Fresh air
(Section 2)	larch	Several squares are covered with lichen	Scale (yellow,	Fresh air
Village center (3 section)	larch	Almost the entire square is covered with lichen	Scale (yellow), leafy (green)	Slightly polluted

II.2 Measuring projective cover

To estimate the relative abundance of lichens on tree trunks, we determined projective cover indicators those. the percentage of lichen-covered and lichen-free areas.

The projective cover of lichens was calculated using a transparent film, lined with squares 1x1 cm. The film was placed on a tree trunk and fixed with buttons. Measurement on one barrel was carried out with four cardinal points: the frame was applied and counted four times - from the north, east, south and west. And also these measurements were made on 2 heights: 60,90.

Lichens were counted as follows. First, we counted the number of grid squares in which lichens occupy by eye more than half the area of the square (a), conventionally attributing to them a coverage equal to 100%. Then we counted the number of squares in which lichens occupy less than half of the area of the square (c), conventionally attributing to them a coverage of 50%. This was recorded in a worksheet. After that, the total projective cover was calculated as a percentage using the formula:

R = (100 * a + 50 * b) / C

In this formula, C is the total number of grid squares (when using a 10x10 cm grid with 1x1 cells, C = 100).

1. Measurement of the projective cover

The projective cover is calculated by the formula:

R = (100a + 50v) / С, where

a is the number of grid squares in which lichens occupy more than half of the square area;

v is the number of grid squares in which lichens occupy less than half of the square;

WITH is 100%.

R = 100 * 50 + 50 * 15/100% = 57.5%

This means that in the first section the assessment of the projective cover is 8 points.

R = 100 * 50 + 50 * 19/100% = 59.5%

And in the second section, the assessment of the projective cover is also 8 points.

R = 100 * 15 + 50 * 5/100 = 17.5%

And in the third section, the assessment of the projective cover is 4 points.

Table 3. Measurement of the projective cover of lichens.

II.3. Calculation of the value of the indices of field tolerance

The calculated projective cover made it possible to calculate field tolerance index, reflecting the effect of air on lichens.

The field tolerance index (IP) is calculated by the formula:

IP = (A i C i ) / C n

In this formula: n is the number of species on the described trial plot; A i - the class of field-tolerance of the species (hypogymnia of swelling belongs to the 3rd class of field-tolerance, that is, this type of lichen is found in natural and anthropogenically slightly modified places); C i - projective cover of the species in points; Cn is the sum of the coverage values of all types (in points). Field tolerance index (IP) and SO₂ concentration.

Table 4 Assessment of the projective cover in points.


Coverage estimation, in%

Using the table "Estimation of the projective cover in points", it was determined that the calculated projective cover in percent (57.8%, 59.5%) corresponds to eight (8) points. Having all the data, the field tolerance index was calculated using the formula. IP = 4 (mixed zone).

II.4. Results of the practical part of the research

Was surveyed 3 km 2, found the following types of lichens.

Family Parmeliaceae

Hypohymnia bloating (Hypoqimnia physodes)

Parmelia furrowed (Parmelia sulcata)

Family Usneaceae

Evernia divaricata

Family Teloschistaceae

Xanthoria pareitina (Xanthoria pareitina)

Table 5. Research results.

Very weak(Class 1) - the total number of species up to six, including scale, leafy and bushy forms of gray and yellow.

Weak(Class 2) - the total number of up to four, gray scale, leafy and bushy forms, yellow scale lichens.

The average(Grade 3) - only two types of gray lichens, scale and leafy forms.

Moderate(Grade 4) - only one type of gray scale lichens.

Strong(Grades 5-6) - complete absence of lichens, "lichen desert".

So our settlement, according to our calculations, belongs to the second class. This means that there are no industrial facilities on our territory. The main objects polluting the atmosphere are the central boiler house, heated by coal, fuel oil, private houses heated by wood.

Conclusion

A simple, affordable way to determine the air purity is the lichen indication method.

Lichens strongly react to external influences, so it is possible to clearly determine the state of the ecological situation.

According to our research, the territory of the village is favorable in terms of air purity.

Literature.

1. Bogolyubov A.S. Air pollution assessment by lichen indication method: method. manual / A.S. Bogolyubov, M.V. Kravchenko. - M .: Ecosystem, 2001.

2. Vorontsov A.I., Kharitonova N.Z. Protection of Nature. - M .: Higher school, 1977

3.Israel Yu.A. Ecology and control of the state of the natural environment. - L .: Gidrometeoizdat, 1979.

4.Kriksunov E.A. Ecology, Moscow: Bustard Publishing House, 1996.

5.Kushelev V.P. Protection of nature from industrial pollution. - M .: Chemistry, 1979.

6. Lyashenko O.A. Bioindication and biotesting in environmental protection: textbook. - SP .: 2012.

7.Nikitin D.P., Novikov Yu.V. Environment and people. - M .: Higher school, 1980

8. Novikov E.A. Man and the lithosphere. - L .: Nedra, 1976.

9.Sinitsyn S.G., Molchanov A.A. and others. Forest and nature protection. - M .: Forest industry, 1980.

10.Internet site lishayniki.ru

Application

Xanthoria masonry

Evernia spread wide

Parmelia furrowed

Hypohymnia bloated

Different organisms react differently to certain anthropogenic influences, being their indicators. It should be noted that indicator properties are possessed not only by individual species of organisms, but also by their communities as a whole. The advantage of living indicators is that they summarize biologically important data about the environment and reflect its state as a whole, make it unnecessary to use expensive laborious physical and chemical methods to measure individual biological parameters. Living organisms react to short-term and burst emissions of toxicants, which the automated control system may not register. They reflect the rate of changes occurring in the natural environment, indicate the paths and localization of various kinds of pollution in ecological systems, possible ways of these agents entering 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 the chemical composition of the environment with their wide distribution, 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 of mineral substances in the body of mosses is an integral indicator of the level of pollution, reflecting a more or less average content of pollutants over a long period (the time of existence of a turf or an individual individual).

Mosses are capable of accumulating in their bodies a wide range of technogenic pollutants: from organic substances, including pesticides, to heavy metals and radionuclides. Green mosses widespread in our forests are most often used as storage indicators among bryophytes: Pleurozium schreberi (Brid.) Mitt., Dicranum polysetum Sw., Hylocomium splendens (Hedw.) BSG. These species are used in the countries of near and far abroad when selling monitoring programs for the content of heavy metals in various ecosystems: from pine forests to geothermal sources. 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 in this way are carried out in Russia and Belarus, for example, in the Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve.

The most important is the study of mosses as accumulators of radionuclides, since 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 stock in the pine biogeocenosis (wet subor 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 those 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 equilibration 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 nutrient losses.

Thus, under conditions of contamination of the territory with 137Cs, a selective accumulation of a 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 statement of the fact that they can be used as storage indicators. The issues of the participation of mosses in the further migration of the accumulated 137Cs and the effect of the moss cover on the availability of the nuclide for root nutrition of higher plants associated with a developed moss cover are poorly studied.

Indicator plants are in great demand in gardening, they will tell you how best to equip the site. Although almost any cultivated crop with 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 the plants are signaling will help correct the situation in time and improve the yield.

Indicator plants in the country

To save yourself from the need for constant diagnostics of 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. From year to year, they grow well on their own, 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 which fertilizers should be applied, what is better to plant in one place or another.

Plants-indicators of groundwater

Soil moisture

Plants are xerophytes. They easily tolerate drought, are able to do without moisture for a long time:

Plants are mesophytes. Forest and meadow grasses growing on moist soils, but not waterlogged:

Plants are hygrophytes. Prefer abundantly moist, waterlogged soils:

A place with abundantly moistened soil, if the territory allows, it is better to equip it as a decorative part of the site, for example, to make a secluded corner for rest with a small pond. In the absence of such an opportunity for growing vegetables, you will have to work hard on drainage.

Such a place is not suitable for trees and shrubs; for good growth, they need a groundwater level no closer than one and a half or even two meters from the soil surface.

Groundwater level

The owners of the site, especially the new one, are wondering about the availability of water, for example, for arranging a well or a well, an automatic irrigation system or distributing plants. Plant indicators will come to the rescue in this. Survey the area and find plants that detect the presence of groundwater.

The depth of water occurrence from 10 cm will be indicated by sedge of two types - turfy and bubbly, 10–50 cm sharp sedge and purple reed grass, from 50 cm to a meter tall meadowsweet and canary grass. When the water passes at a depth of 1–1.5 m, the plant indicators will be grass sagittarius, meadow fescue, multiflorous vetch and field grass, more than 1.5 m - creeping wheatgrass, red clover, large plantain and a sharp fire.

Soil indicator plants

Plants - oligotrophs indicate a low content of useful elements in the soil. These are lichens, heather, cranberries, deciduous mosses, wild rosemary, lingonberry and blueberry. And also Antenaria, Belous and Sandy Tsmin.

Medium fertile soil suitable for plants - mesatrophs, for example, green mosses, male shrimp and drooping resinous, wild strawberries, oregano, buttercup anemone, oak woodworm, two-leaved lyubka, etc.

The indicators of enriched soils include plants - eutrophs and megatrophs... Moss moss, nettle of two types (stinging and dioecious), female fern, wood lice, forest horsetail and lunar. And also ostrich fern, forest carrot, ivan tea, hoofed bird, quinoa, black nightshade, etc.

Plants - eurythrophs grow in soils with different levels of fertility, therefore they are not indicators. This is a bindweed (birch), yarrow.

The most important substance in plant nutrition and development is nitrogen. From a lack of this element, plants wither, slow down in growth.

Indicators of nitrogen content in soil

Plants - nitrophils(nitrogen-rich soil). Common Mary, quinoa, purple ashweed, motherwort, burdock, perennial forested plant, hops, yaskirka, marigold, bedstraw, bittersweet nightshade and dioecious nettle.
Plants - nitrophobes(nitrogen-poor soil). In such places, almost all legumes grow well, as well as alder, sea buckthorn and dzhida (jigida), sedum, wild carrots, navel.

There are also observations of plants indicating soil density. The dense soil on the site is overgrown with cinquefoil goose, creeping buttercup, plantain, creeping wheatgrass. Buttercup and dandelion thrive on loams. Loose soil with a high organic content is adored by nettles and burnet. Sandstones prefer mullein and medium-sized stellate.

Plants-indicators of soil acidity

In excessively acidic soils, the normal growth of cultivated plants is impeded by an excess of aluminum and manganese, they contribute to the disruption of protein and carbohydrate metabolism, which threatens a partial loss of yield or complete wilting of plants. To calculate the composition of the land on your site, take a closer look at wild plants.

Plants - acidophiles (indicators of soils with high acidity pH less than 6.7)

Limiting acidophiles growing on soils with a pH of 3-4.5:

Medium acidophiles- pH 4.5-6:

Weak acidophiles(pH 5-6.7):

Plants - neutrophils, identifying neutral and slightly acidic soils with a pH of 4.5-7.0

Plants that prefer soil with a pH of 6.7-7 - common neutrophils: Hulten's willow and pleurotium and hylocomium mosses.

Soil with a pH of 6-7.3 is ideal for circumlinear neutrophils: hemlock crane, clover, meadow batlachik, bunch and common billow.

Plants - basophils (indicators of alkaline soils with pH 7.3-9)

Soils with a pH of 6.7-7.8 are ideal for neutral plants - basophils:

In soil with a pH of 7.8-9 - grow common plants - basophils such as red elderberry and rough elm, as well as calcephiles(falling larch, oak anemone, six-petalled meadowsweet) and plants - halophytes, such as small-flowered tamarix, immortelle and some types of wormwood.

Most vegetable crops grow in soils with low acidity and neutrality, therefore, for good growth and a bountiful harvest, the increased acidity must be neutralized. There are many options for this, it all depends on the desired result and the crops grown, because there are such plants for which slightly acidic soil does not interfere with developing well, for example, radishes, carrots and tomatoes. And especially the potatoes. On alkaline soil, it is heavily affected by scab and the yield drops sharply.

Cucumbers, squash, pumpkin, onions, garlic, lettuce, spinach, peppers, parsnips, asparagus and celery prefer slightly acidic or neutral soil (pH 6.4-7.2). And cabbage and beetroot, even on neutral soil, respond well to alkalization.

Plants that are not indicators

Not all plant species can identify the soil, the best in this matter are those that are adapted to certain conditions and are intolerant of any changes in them (stenobionts). Plant species that easily adapt to changes in the composition of soils and the environment (eurybionts) cannot be called indicators.

The indicators are not those plants whose seeds were accidentally introduced to the site. Usually they give single shoots, and with timely harvesting they no longer appear.

It turns out that most of the plants with which we fight and are used to calling weeds can be irreplaceable helpers 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 on your site and recognize them.

Behind the discordant name of these plants, there is a world amazing in its originality.

As organisms, lichens were known to scientists and among the people long before the discovery of their essence. Even the great Theophrastus (371 - 286 BC) "father of botany", gave a description of two lichens - Usnea and Rocella. Gradually the number of known species of lichens increased. In the 17th century, only 28 species were known. French doctor and the botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort in his system singled out lichens as a separate group in the composition of mosses.Although by 1753 more than 170 species were known, Karl Linnaeus described only 80, describing them as "a poor peasantry of vegetation", and included, together with liverworts, into the composition "Terrestrial algae".

But the beginning of lichenology (the science of lichens - 1803) is rightfully considered Eric Aharius, a student of Karl Linnaeus. He singled out lichens into an independent group and for the first time systematized 906 species described at that time.

The first to point out the symbiotic nature in 1866 was the physician and mycologist Anton de Barii, and in 1869 he introduced the term “symbiosis”. In 1869, botanist Simon Schwendener extended this concept to all species. In the same year, Russian botanists Andrei Sergeevich Famintsyn and Osip Vasilievich Baranetsky discovered that the green cells in a lichen are unicellular algae. These discoveries were perceived by contemporaries as "amazing", since until the end of the 60s of the 19th century, researchers considered them to be ordinary plants, and the green cells inside the thallus visible under a microscope were considered photosynthetic tissue.

Many researchers tried to artificially obtain lichen from various cells of algae and fungi, but this was only succeeded in 1980 by V. Akhmadzhyan and H. Hekkal. American scientists have managed to "combine" the algae and the mushroom grown from the spore.

In all other cases, the experiments were terminated in the middle. Found from the sources and a unique case of interaction of algae and fungus. Based on the experiments carried out in the laboratory, American scientists suggested that the brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum (A. nodosum) has an obligate need for the fungus Mycosphaerella ascophylli and their symbiosis can be characterized as lichen, but unlike traditional lichens, this symbiosis is dominated by algae, and not a mushroom. This only means that the relationship of these organisms is more varied and complex.

Now there are about 25 thousand species of lichens. And every year scientists discover and describe dozens and hundreds of new unknown species.

The appearance of these plants is bizarre and varied. Known are rod-shaped, bushy, leafy, membranous, tangle-like, “naked” and densely covered with scales (phyllodadia) lichens with a thallus in the form of a club and a film, beard and even “multi-storey” towers.

Epiliths are very numerous; they are plants growing on bare stones and rocks. These include representatives of the genera of aspicilia, lecanor, lecidea, rhizocarpon from crustacean lichens; from foliose - dermatocarpon, collema, parmelia, fissia.

Epiphytes inhabit branches and trunks of trees and shrubs. The epiphytes include the crustose lichens graphis, lecanor, psora; leafy - kollema, leptogium, parmelia, fissia; bushy - cladonia and sleepy.

Epixyls are relatively few in number; they include plants that inhabit dead, decaying wood, as well as old wooden buildings. Among the scale epixils, plants from the genera Lecanor and Psora are known; among foliated - parmelia and fissia; among the bushy ones are cladonia and sleepyheads. Ground lichens, which also inhabit the moss "carpet", belong to the genera of Lecidea (scale), Cladonia, Usneya (bushy), Tsetraria, Peltiger, Solorina, (leafy). Actually, the only aquatic lichen is the American vein hydrotyria. All other lichens have adapted to withstand flooding, but do not completely migrate into the water. These are river dermatocarpon, whitish-bluish lecidea, dark rhizocarpon, etc.

External structure

Lichens are symbiotic organisms whose body (thallus) is formed by the combination of fungal cells (mycobiont) and algal and / or cyanobacterial (photobiont) cells in a seemingly homogeneous organism.

The internal structure of these organisms is also not the same. Some crustose lichens are the most primitive. Algae cells are evenly distributed between the filaments of the fungus (hyphae) throughout the thallus. Such lichens are called homeomeric.

Thallus of more highly organized lichens have several layers of cells, each of which performs a specific function. Such lichens are called heteromeric.

Outside, there is a protective crustal layer, consisting of a dense plexus of fungal hyphae and colored in various colors.

(from white to bright yellow, brown, lilac, orange, pink, green, blue, gray, black).

This surface layer of tightly intertwined hyphae allows lichens to quickly absorb surrounding moisture in wet weather and dry out just as quickly, which saves their cells from overheating and hypothermia.

There is a zone of algae under the upper crustal layer. Algal cells are surrounded by thin fungal hyphae. Below is the core. This is the thickest layer of the thallus. Colorless mushroom hyphae of the core lie loosely, there is air space between them. This provides free access to the inside of the thallus of carbon dioxide and oxygen, which are necessary for the lichen for photosynthesis and respiration. Bottom thallus is protected by the lower crustal layer.

The thallus of scale lichens is a crust "scale", the lower surface grows tightly with the substrate and does not detach without significant damage. This allows them to live on bare ground, on steep mountain slopes, trees, and even on concrete walls. Sometimes crustacean lichen develops inside the substrate and is completely invisible from the outside.

Leafy lichens have the form of plates of different shapes and sizes. They are more or less tightly attached to the substrate with the help of outgrowths of the lower cortical layer.

Bushy have a more complex structure. Thallus forms many rounded or flat branches. They grow on the ground or hang from trees, wood debris, rocks. On the substrate, they attach only at their base.

On the surface of the thallus, there are round discs with a narrow recess, resembling small saucers. These are apothecia within which spores ripen. They are either barely distinguishable, or clearly visible, brightly colored and adorn the body of the lichen.

Lichen apothecia Parmelia sulcata, on the surface are visible sredii.

In some lichens, special formations are located on the thallus or inside it - cephalodia, which are an association of a fungus and cyanobacteria. The thallus itself usually contains green algae. Lichens can be of two or three components.

Lichens consisting of a fungus of one species and a cyanobacterium (blue-green alga) (cyanolichens, for example, Peltigera horizontalis) or algae (fiches, for example, Cetraria islandica) of one species are called two-component; lichens consisting of a fungus of one species and two species of photobionts (one cyanobacterium and one alga, but never two algae or two cyanobacteria) are called ternary lichens (for example, Stereocaulon alpinum).

The structure of a heteromeric lichen as exemplified by Sticta fuliginosa:

a - cortical layer, b - gonidial layer, c - pith, d - lower cortex, e - rhizines.

The algae found in the lichen thallus are called lichen phycobionts. According to their systematic relationship, they belong to different divisions: blue-green (cyanophyta), green (chlorophyta), yellow-green (xanthophyta) and brown (phaeophyta) algae.

The lichen thallus is very diverse in color, size, shape and structure. The color of the lichen thallus depends on the presence of pigments that are deposited in the membranes of the hyphae, less often in the protoplasm.

Pigments are chemical compounds that absorb light at a specific wavelength. Chlorophyll is a pigment that absorbs violet, blue and red rays, while reflecting green, which is why it determines the green color of plants and a number of algae.

Chlorophylls "b" and "c" are auxiliary pigments that expand the spectrum of absorption of light during photosynthesis and transfer their energy to chlorophyll "a". Numerous carotenoids and phycobilins are known in algae among the pigments that also transfer their energy to chlorophyll "a". Carotenoids are usually orange, red, brown and yellow and absorb light in the blue-green region of the spectrum. It is believed that the role of many carotenoids is not light-trapping, but light-shielding, since they absorb potentially dangerous radiation. The presence of these pigments leads to the fact that they can mask the green color of chlorophylls, and then the algae acquire a brown, yellowish, golden and brownish color.

Phycobilins are water-soluble pigments found in red, blue-green and cryptophyte algae. It is they that determine the blue-green, various shades of red and pink in these algae. In recent years, phycobilins have been used for scientific purposes as chemical labels for antibodies, and also as labels for tissue cells in the study of tumors.

Sometimes the color of the thallus depends on the color of lichen acids, which are deposited in the form of crystals or grains on the surface of the hyphae.

Most lichen acids are colorless, but some of them are colored, and sometimes very brightly, in yellow, orange, red and other colors. The color of the crystals of these substances also determines the color of the entire thallus. And here the most important factor contributing to the formation of lichen substances is light. The brighter the lighting in the place where the lichen grows, the brighter it is colored. The colored outer layers are thought to protect the underlying algal cells from excessive light intensity.

Complex fatty acids and derivatives of compounds such as orsinol and anthraquinone are formed in the bark and core of lichens. Some of these substances taste unpleasant and make the lichens inedible to animals. Others, with a pleasant aroma, are used in the perfume industry, and some are used for the production of dyes. The ability to synthesize certain compounds is an important systematic feature of lichens.

Lichen nutrition.

Algae or cyanobacteria of bicomponent lichens feed autotrophically. In three-component lichens, algae feeds autotrophically, while cyanobacteria, apparently, feeds heterotrophically, carrying out nitrogen fixation. The fungus feeds heterotrophically on the assimilates of the symbiotic partner (s). But there is currently no consensus on the possibility of the existence of free-living forms of symbionts.

Lichen growth

Lichens are perennial plants. Usually the age of adult thalli, which can be seen somewhere in the forest on a tree trunk or on the soil, is at least 20-50 years. In the northern tundra, some bushy lichens of the genus Kladonia are up to 300 years old. Among them there are also super-livers, whose age is 3000 years. Lichens grow slowly, scale add only 0.2 - 0.3 mm per year, and bushy and leafy 2 - 3 mm.

Due to the very slow growth, lichens can survive only in places that are not overgrown with other plants, where there is free space for photosynthesis. In wet areas, they often lose out to mosses.

Lichens, as a rule, have modest requirements for the consumption of minerals, getting them mainly from dust in the air or from rainwater, in this regard, they can live on open, unprotected surfaces (stones, tree bark, concrete and even rusty metal ). The advantage of lichens is their tolerance to extreme conditions (drought, high and low temperatures (from -47 to +80 degrees Celsius, about 200 species live in Antarctica), acidic and alkaline environments, ultraviolet radiation). In May 2005, experiments were carried out on lichens Rhizocarpon geographicum and Xanthoria elegans, showing that these species were able to survive outside the earth's atmosphere for at least two weeks, that is, in extremely unfavorable conditions.

Many lichens are substrate specific, some thrive only on alkaline rocks such as limestone or dolomite, others on acidic, lime-free silicate rocks such as quartz, gneiss and basalt. Epiphytic lichens also prefer certain trees: they choose the sour bark of conifers or birch or the main nut, maple or elder. A number of lichens themselves act as substrates for other lichens. Often, a typical sequence is formed in which different lichens grow on top of each other. There are species that live permanently in water, such as Verrucaria serpuloides.

Lichens, like other organisms, form communities. An example of lichen associations is the Cladonio-Pinetum community - lichen pine forest.

Reproduction of lichens

Reproduction of lichens is carried out by sexual and asexual (vegetative) methods. As a result of the sexual process, spores of the lichen crest are formed, which develop in closed fruiting bodies - pepices with a narrow outlet opening upward, or in apothecia, wide open to the bottom. Overgrown spores, having met an alga corresponding to their species, form a new thallus with it.

Some not only survive, but increase the territory of their distribution. In the Moscow region, the inconspicuous but very stable Scoliciosporum chlorococcum is almost everywhere and abundantly, a crustal species that was also not indicated for Central Russia at the beginning of the century.

In any case, the death of certain species should be an alarming signal not only for people living in a particular area, but for all of humanity.

The meaning of lichens.

Thanks to lichen acids (a joint product of a fungal and algal partnership), lichens act as pioneers of vegetation in nature. They are involved in the processes of weathering and soil formation.

Lichen acids not only inhibit, but also stimulate the growth of some organisms. In those places where lichens grow, many soil microscopic fungi and bacteria feel great.

Lichen acids have a bitter taste, so only some snails and reindeer, who are very fond of lichen and tundra cladonia, eat them.

In severe hungry years, people often added lichens crushed into flour when baking bread. To remove the bitterness, they were previously doused with boiling water.

In the North of Russia, they are still used as dyes.

In medicine, lichens were used by the ancient Egyptians in 2000 BC. Their acids have antibiotic properties.

The most unexpected use in perfumery, although it was known in the 15th - 18th century. In ancient Egypt, a powder was obtained from them, which was used to prepare powder.

Some lichens are eaten. In Japan, for example, the edible gyrophora (gyrophora tsculenta), a leafy lichen growing on rocks, is considered a delicacy. Long known under the name "lichen manna", edible asticilia (Asticilia esculenna), forming a kind of "nomadic" globular lumps in the steppes, deserts and arid mountain areas. The wind sometimes carries these balls over long distances. Perhaps this is where the biblical tradition of the "manna from heaven" originated, sent down by God to the Jews who wandered in the desert on their way out of Egyptian slavery. And in Egypt itself, peeling evernia (Evernia furfuracea) was added to baked bread so that it did not stale for a long time.

According to the composition of lichens, using the developed scales and formulas, the concentration of various pollutants in the air is determined. They are classic biological indicators. Also, the entire surface of lichens absorbs rainwater, where many toxic gases are concentrated. The most dangerous for lichens are nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, fluorine compounds. In the last decade, it has shown that sulfur compounds have the most negative effect on them, especially sulfuric gas, which already in a concentration of 0.08-0.1 mg / m3 inhibits most lichens, and a concentration of 0.5 mg / m3 is destructive for almost all species.

Many researchers are used both for mapping territories and for transect research, transplantation, environmental education, etc.

Lichens are successfully used in environmental monitoring.

They serve as indicators of the environment, as they are highly sensitive to chemical pollution. Resistance to adverse conditions is facilitated by a low growth rate, the presence of various methods of extracting and accumulating moisture, and developed defense mechanisms.

Definition of lichen zones

Air pollutants disrupt the pigment system of photosynthesis by oxidizing chlorophyll and disrupting the transport of organic matter.

The degree of air pollution can be determined by the following indicators

1.lichen desert - complete absence of lichens

2.competition zone - the lichen zone is poor

3. Normal zone - many types of lichens are found

The degree of air pollution is estimated by the abundance of various lichens.

Pollution Degree Bushy lichens Leafy lichens Crustaceous lichens

No pollution Occurs Occurs Occurs

Weak pollution Absent Occur Occur

Average pollution Absent Absent Occur

Heavy contamination None None None

Sensitivity to atmospheric pollutants

Medium-sensitive species, highly sensitive species, some species of parmelia (furrowed, rocky) and cladonia usnea (crested, lush), gray-gray tsetraria, non-ironed cladonia,

(powdery, fringed). hypohymnia swollen, wall xanthoria (goldfish).

Several hundred species of lichens grow in the Moscow region, in Moscow about

90. They are sensitive to pollution and therefore serve as good indicators of the environment.

Analysis of the study

When analyzing the life forms of lichens, it was revealed that from the samples we collected there are scale, leafy and bushy forms. The air environment is polluted (because there are few bushy species), but moderately, since two bushy species are still found on our territory, and leafy species are represented by a relatively large number of species.

We examined trees growing along highways along Shkolnaya, Sadovaya, Topolinaya, Mira streets. Shkolnaya Street is a street with a high degree of traffic, passenger transport is predominant. On Sadovaya, Mira and Topolinaya streets, the degree of traffic intensity is average.

In the course of the research, we determined:

The following types of lichens are found on trees growing along highways: orange xanthoria, gray-green parmelia, ash-gray hypogymnia, and green algae

Air pollution affects your appearance as well. Lichens age prematurely. As they approach the source of pollution, the lichen thallus become thick, compact and almost completely lose their fruiting bodies.

The predominant lichen in the surveyed streets is the orange xanthoria.

Xanthoria wall (golden): a) - in a normal state, b) - in a depressed state. The colonies of these plants acquire the specific shape of a crescent, because the central parts of their thalli lag behind the substrate and fall out, although the edges of the blades do not reduce the growth rate. The thalli of oppressed lichens are abundantly covered with sredia - small spherical bodies.

Along the bypass road, there are trees on which green algae grows together with lichens.

Only green algae are found on the trees.

The indicators of research carried out along the Kashiro-Simferopol highway are alarming. No lichens have been found here at all. Only green algae are found on the trees.

The atmosphere is heavily polluted. This is due to the anthropogenic influence on this territory: the proximity of the highway and the gas station affects.

(according to Cernander)

1 - 2 - Normal

7 - 10 0.08 - 0.10 Fights (I)

10 0.10 - 0.30 Wrestling (II)

We conducted a study of the territory to determine the degree of air pollution using the simplest test for air purity by the species composition of lichens. In the course of the survey, the presence on each trunk of the linden is determined - a standard object of research for lichens of bushy, leafy and scale forms. Then, in accordance with the simplest scale for determining the degree of air pollution, the degree of pollution is determined.

The simplest scale for determining the degree of air pollution

Pollution Degree Lichen presence

I low pollution, fruticose lichens disappear

II medium pollution, foliose and fruticose lichens disappear

III severe pollution, fruticose, leafy and crusty lichens disappear - “Lichen desert

Based on the test results, a map of air pollution is compiled according to the morphological (life) form of lichens.

According to the lichen-flora list in accordance with the table: a map of air pollution by the species composition of lichens is compiled.

Scale for determining the degree of air pollution according to the lichen-flora list

Air pollution degree Lichens

0 no lichen zone, only Pleurococcus algae on trees and stones of very strong pollution

1 zone Lekanor lichen of strong pollution

2 zone Xanthoria lichen on stones to reduce pollution

3 Parmelia zone on rocks, no pollution reduction on trees

Zone 4 gray leafy lichens appear on tree trunks relatively clean air

5 zone bushy lichens appear, including Evernia zone of clean air

6 zone Bushy lichens, including Usneya very clean air

In connection with the threat of an impending ecological catastrophe, and the arisen need to identify anthropogenic changes in the state of the natural environment, there is a need to organize a special information system - a system for observing and analyzing the state of the natural environment, called monitoring.

Environmental monitoring is subdivided into biological and geographic.

Biological monitoring is aimed at identifying and assessing anthropogenic changes associated with changes in biota, biological systems, and assessing the state of these systems.

The main attention in biological monitoring is paid to observations of biological consequences, responses, reactions of biological systems to external influences, to changes in the state of the natural environment.

Much attention is paid to biological monitoring for the following reasons:

First, the measurement of physical and chemical parameters of environmental pollution is more laborious in comparison with methods of biological monitoring;

Secondly, not one, but several toxic components are often present in the human environment.

Of course, biological monitoring does not replace and does not supplant physicochemical methods for studying the state of the natural environment. However, its use makes it possible to increase the accuracy of forecasts in the ecological situation, which has developed as a result of human activity.

For example: for some types of lichens, you can fairly accurately determine the concentration of sulfur dioxide in the air. If there are parmelia, alectoria, etc. on the trunks of trees, then the air is clean; if lichens on trees are completely absent, then the concentration of sulfur dioxide in the air exceeds 0.3 mg / m3.

In places of constant anthropogenic impact, lichens disappear. This suggests that the atmosphere of the area is polluted, the negative anthropogenic impact is great.

We hear environmental warnings every day.

However, calls for the salvation and protection of nature will remain words if every person does not realize the main thing: humanity is on the verge of an ecological catastrophe, there is no exaggeration here. 40% of the population live in unfavorable environmental conditions, and another 20% - in areas of environmental disaster. Therefore, solving environmental problems is one of the most important tasks of today.

Having carried out this work, we not only expanded our knowledge, but also made sure that lichens are not only an interesting, unusual, but also difficult object to identify and study in laboratory conditions. They began to treat these small, unique creatures of nature completely differently. What heroic efforts they have to make to survive. Take care of them! Do not disturb this fabulous Berendey kingdom. Take a closer look around you. Indeed, in the forest there are not just trees, stumps, scattered twigs, stones, but fabulous ones. How richly ornamented they are! And lichens make them so. And what an invaluable service they provide to scientists and to all of us.

We are planning to conduct a transplantation study (transfer lichens with a low class of field tolerance, that is, with high sensitivity, into the zones of anthropogenic impact identified by us.

Progress.

1. We took a piece of thallus of different lichens along with the substrate. Sketched, photographed and measured the length of these objects (bushy, leafy, crusty lichens)

2. We attached pieces of lichen to the walls, bark of trees, in different parts of the village.

3. Observing objects.

4. In six months or a year, we will remove them, measure, draw

5. Let's compare their appearance with the original one from the photo and drawing.

6. Find out with which lichens have changed, and which have not.

Such a study will make it possible to either confirm or refute the assumption that the current average annual concentrations are indeed lower than 0.05 mg / m³, and the modern lichen-indicative picture is connected precisely with the fact that about 10 - 15 years must pass before a decrease in anthropogenic pressure becomes noticeable on lichens.

Correlation of field tolerance indices and average annual concentrations of sulfur dioxide in the air.

Field tolerance index SO2 concentration, mg / m³ Zone

(according to Cernander)

1 - 2 - Normal

2 - 5 0.01 - 0.03 Mixed (I)

5 - 7 0.03 - 0.08 Mixed (II)

7 - 10 0.08 - 0.10 Fights (I)

10 0.10 - 0.30 Wrestling (II)

0 over 0.3 Lichen desert

According to the data obtained, one can judge the average annual concentrations of sulfur dioxide in the air.

We decided to make one more observation.

Research results.

Street name Number of trees Number of trees, per Types of lichens The predominant species of which are lichens

School Green-Gray Parmelia, Gray-Green Parmelia Orange Xanthoria

Garden Ash-gray hypogymnia, evenly orange xanthoria

Poplar Gray-green Parmelia, orange xanthoria, green orange xanthoria and green algae predominate up to the crossroads. algae, from the intersection distribution of lichen uniform green algae is absent.

Mira Ash-gray hypogymnia, orange xanthoria orange xanthoria

Kashiro - Simferopol highway green algae

Heavy pollution Medium pollution Almost no pollution (low pollution)

Green algae on tree trunks. Leafy lichens on tree trunks Leafy lichens on trees (gray-green

(orange xanthoria). parmelia and ash-gray hypogymnia).

Study of algae that make up lichens.

Demonstration of work in front of students in grade 6 when studying the topic "Lichens"

Report on the work done.

Plants are much more aware of the state of the soil. We have already talked about how they can be used to determine the nutrients (including which ones) in our beds; learned how to identify the soil by the wild plants growing on it. Today we have an equally important topic - how to determine the type of water regime on a land plot with the help of plants.

It is important for plants how much melted snow water the soil can store, how often it will rain in summer, what temperature the roots will have to absorb. Not any water is their joy.
Everyone is familiar with the concepts of "high bog" and "tundra". It would seem that in these natural lands there is always an abundance of water, the soil is always moist. But the plants are really thirsty there. Tundra mosses do not allow heat to pass through, they are like insulators - it is always colder under them than above them. Therefore, the water under the moss is chilly, it is poorly absorbed by plants. And the dissolved humic acids make it too acidic. It is not for nothing that experts call such soil physiologically dry. What is the result? Plants in raised bogs and tundra are forced to conserve water, as plants in arid regions do. It doesn't matter that many of them literally stand in the water.

Even in swampy places there are droughts, so cranberries disappeared from a swamp in the Voronezh region after a dry period. For her, the lack of moisture turned out to be more destructive than its eternal excess.

What grows where

There are floodplain meadows, which are flooded with spring floods. They grow, reeds, gravilat,. And on higher meadows, which are flooded with water only for a short period of time in summer, Phrygian cornflower grows. On flooded meadows in dry years, horse sorrel and meadow sorrel are found. On them, but in lower places, grow vesicular and acute, cereals, two-source reed. And along the edge of the water, broad-leaved, reed and even marsh settle down.

On well-moistened (but not marshy) soils grow (roast), timothy, rank, lamb, sorrel. Common goldenrod loves sandy soils, from which water leaves quickly, and Canadian goldenrod also prefers meadow soil, but heavy, moist.

Marsh marigold grows in long strips along the banks of rivers and streams, but certainly where the soil is swampy, the areas are low. In such conditions, it is equally good for her both on the northern islands, where gulls nest and bird colonies rustle, and in the much warmer climate of the Altai Territory.

Ground water

Sometimes they are very close, only 10 centimeters from the surface. You walk along the path, and it squishes under your feet. In wet years, water can be at ground level. In arid - a little lower, to go down to about half a meter.

Another level of groundwater depth is from one meter to one and a half. Here, from a simple step on the path, pits are not formed, and water does not appear in them. However, plant roots can easily reach it.

Deeper groundwater level - from one and a half meters.

And then there is the top water. On a dry site in spring (after snow melt) or summer (after heavy rains), puddles suddenly appear on the soil surface. This happens when there is a layer of clay under the soil, which prevents the water from leaving. Mini-bogs are formed, the soil is acidified. Although the low is about the size of a plate, but there is only a cup of water in it.
Then you need a well or a small pond at the lowest point of the land.

Is it possible to understand at what depth the water is?

Yes! Plants tell about it. If the groundwater is close, then the place is decorated with horsetails and marigold. If the groundwater is located within half a meter, then this is the place of meadowsweet. It is common on the banks of rivers, in the lowlands. If the waters hide at a depth of one and a half meters, mouse peas, meadow fescue, ranch, bluegrass will grow on the site.

When the groundwater is located below one and a half meters, they settle in these areas (it can only grow on soils where the groundwater is deep!), A fire, naked licorice,.

And shrubs, vegetables, flowers can be grown at a groundwater level of 1-1.5 meters from the surface of the earth, at a level of 0.5-1 meters - only vegetables and flowers, and then in the beds.

If the water is even closer, then it is required, and not in a single suburban country, but in all gardening. A separate independent country can fill in soil on its territory to make the level acceptable for plants.

If the groundwater is deeper than two meters, you can grow and. If the soil contains not pure water, but mineralized (that is, brine), then it should not rise above 3.5 meters. Good for the gardener and gardener when there are four meters to the water. Then both apple trees and pears will grow!

Options ...

There are other ways to recognize the proximity of groundwater. For example, come to the site early in the morning and see if there is dew, how abundant it is. Or watch the fog appear in the evening, he will tell you where the lowest places of the site are.

You can dig a deep hole (1.5 meters). Or force the site with three-liter cans in the evening, and in the morning see if there is a lot of water in the form of condensate accumulated on the walls - this is how the aquifers are looking for. Only all these methods are time consuming.

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