Adaptation of Greater Plantain, Plantago major L., to Long-Term Radiation and Chemical Exposure

Abstract-A comparative study of the greater plantain seed progeny was performed with samples from cenopopulations growing for a long time under conditions of radioactive contamination (in the Eastern Ural Radioactive Trace, EURT) or chemical pollution (in the impact zone of the Nizhny Tagil Iron and Steel Works, NTMK). The progeny of plants from the NTMK zone had low viability but proved to be resistant to the additional impact of a "new" factor (acute γ-irradiation) as well as of the "habitual" factor (heavy metal toxicity). Plantain seeds from the EURT area showed high viability and low heavy metal and radiation resistance; i.e., no preadaptation effect was revealed. In experiments on growing plants from different cenopopulations in plot culture, samples from the EURT zone were characterized mainly by morphoses of generative organs, while samples from the NTMK area, by morphoses of vegetative organs. Keywords: heavy metals, ionizing radiation, low level doses, cenopopulations, Plantago major L., heavy metal resistance, radioresistance, preadaptation, adaptation DOI: 10.1134/S1067413616010124 Ecological studies of natural populations in technogenic zones are of particular interest in light of increasing anthropogenic impact on the biosphere: on the one hand, the state of biological systems is indicative of the strength of this impact; on the other hand, long-term exposure to stress discloses the pathways of adaptation of organisms to various types of influence and the biological bases of their existence under variable environmental conditions. Each cenopopulation exposed to a certain kind of technogenic stress repeatedly passes through the stages of natural selection and, hence, acquires specific features. The effects of increased concentrations of heavy metals and doses of ionizing radiation on plants are described in a number of publications The purposes of this study were as follows: MATERIAL AND METHODS Study object. Greater plantain (Plantago major L.) is a herbaceous polycarpic perennial of the family Plantaginaceae Juss. (Ontogeneticheskii atlas…, 1997). Plants have stalked oval leaves growing in a rosette, generative shoots are leafless. The species is diploid (2x = 12, n = 6), self-compatible and wind-pollinated Characteristics of test plots. accident at the Mayak Radiochemical Plant, where a tank with radioactive waste exploded to release 7.4 × 10 17 Bq of radionuclides, with 10% of this amount being discharged into the atmosphere and spread over a vast area in Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk regions. Short-lived radionuclides, which emitted strong radiation, decayed within the first 4 years after the accident, and today β-emitting 90 Sr and daughter 90 Y are the main contaminants in the EURT (their content in the isotope mixture at the moment of the accident was 5.4%). Additional contamination of this zone occurred in 1967 as a result of the wind transfer of radioactive silt and sand from the banks of shallowing Lake Karachay, which had been used as a reservoir for radioactive wastes (with 137 Cs being the main contaminant) Current geobotanical and radioecological characteristics of test plots are described in our previous publications The zone of chemical pollution is near the city of Nizhny Tagil, at the site of the Urals' largest mining and metallurgical industrial complex, which has been operating for more than 300 years. The technogenic impact on natural communities has been especially strong since the mid-20th century, when the Nizhny Tagil Iron and Steel Works (the accepted acronym is NTMK) was put in operation. Priority pollutants in the region include heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Cd, Fe), formaldehyde, benzo[a]pyrene, nitrogen dioxide, ammonia, and phenol (Gosudarstvennyi doklad…, 2014). For detailed geobotanical characteristics of test plots, see the study by Zhuikova (2009). Two test plots were established in this zone: NTMK-1 (56°57 N, 61°58 E) and NTMK-2 (57°57 N, 60°54 E). Soil samples were taken from the A1 horizon (see above), and heavy metals were extracted with 5% HNO 3 for 24 h. This method allows extraction of the mobile fraction, which is most easily accessible to plants. Concentrations of Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd were measured in an AAS-6 atomic absorption spectrometer (Analytik Jena AG, Germany). Chemical analysis was performed at the Laboratory of Ecotoxicology of Populations and Communities, Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology. Background plots were beyond the zones of chemical and radiation impact (Background-1: 56°47 N, 61°18 E; Background-2: 56°41 N, 61°02 E). In all the plots, P. major occurred mainly along rarely traveled roads, on the roadsides and between wheel ruts, amid phytocenoses with signs of synanthropization that included ruderal pennycress-sow thistle-plume thistle or meadow-ruderal mixed herb-grass communities. Their species richness was relatively low (32-39 species), but total coverage reached 75%. The group of dominant and codominant species consisted of typical ruderal or meadow-ruderal plants such as Thlapsi arvense, Urtica dioica, Artemisia vulgaris, Bromopsis inermis, Phleum pratense, Poa angustifolia, and Cirsium setosum. It should be noted that P. major plants in the EURT-2 plot showed gigantism of leaves and flower stalks. Pooled samples of seeds from 40-50 plants were collected from each of cenopopulations growing in zones with different levels of chemical and radioactive contamination. Calculations of toxic loads and absorbed dose rates. The gradient of total chemical soil pollution was expressed through the toxic load inde

Communicative competence of the teacher of a kindergarten

Автор рассматривает коммуникативную компетентность педагогов ДОУ, выделяет критерии и показатели коммуникативной компетентность педагогов ДОУ, описывает результаты диагностики коммуникативной компетентности педагогов ДОУ, полученные в результате самооценки коммуникативной компетентности о оценивания коммуникативной компетентности других педагогов.The author considers the communicative competence of teachers of kindergartens, selects the criteria and indicators of communicative competence of teachers of kindergartens, describes the results of the diagnostics of communicative competence of preschool teachers, the resulting self-assessment of communicative competence on the assessment of communicative competence of other teachers

GenEng1103009ModorovLO.fm

Abstract-Variation of 17 allozyme loci was examined in 530 Apodemus uralensis individuals caught in the Ural region from 2005 to 2007. In the populations examined, the mean value of the genetic differentiation index F ST constituted 0.169. It was demonstrated that F ST values for the samples obtained from the 1 km 2 plot in different years, as well as for the samples trapped at a distance from 0.3 to 5 km during one year, could be remarkably higher than the mean value, pointing to their high, statistically significant differentiation. It seems likely that this differ entiation was caused by spatial population subdivision, associated with the mice migrations, temporal change of the population structure, and the gene drift. Population of A. uralensis from radioactively contaminated zone dis played no specificities in the allozyme set and frequencies, which could basically distinguish these animals from the other Ural populations

Sr and

The Techa river was contaminated in 1949-1956 from the nuclear enterprise "MAYAK". The investigations were carried out in flood plain of the Techa river in 1992-1999. In the upper and middle parts of the river the basic contaminator is 137Cs; downstream - more active is 90Sr. Density of contamination of soils with 90Sr down the river changes from 600 to 200 kBq/m2, and that with 137Cs - from 2,000 to 80 kBq/m2. Radionuclides content in soils of the central part of the flood plain (30-40 m from the river-bed) also decreases further from the discharge point 1-2 orders. The Techa flood plain may be considered to be a source of secondary radioactive contamination of the water ecosystem. We evaluated the absorption stability and water migration of radionuclides in its soils under experimental conditions. The main quantity of 90Sr was in exchangeable (41-66 %) form. 137Cs was in firmly fixed form (80-98 %). The study of radionuclides distribution in the liquid fraction of the soil showed that the main part of 90Sr (84%) was found in gravitation moisture. 137Cs (97%) was in a less mobile form of moisture which was connected with soil by capillary and sorption powers

Radioactive inventories within the East-Ural radioactive state reserve on the Southern Urals

The large-scale nuclear accident took place at the production association “Mayak” in the Southern Urals in 1957. About 74 PBq of radioactive substances were released into the atmosphere, which resulted in the contamination of a vast area – East-Ural radioactive trace (EURT). The results of our study have shown that the density of contamination of 90Sr and 137Cs in the frontal part of the EURT are 6700–15000 and 200–400 kBq/m2, respectively. The total deposition for 90Sr within the East-Ural Radioactive State Reserve was 428.2 (286.4–643.4) TBq, for 137Cs – 15.1 (10.2–22.4) TBq, for 239,240Pu – 1.175 (0.623–2.242) TBq