RUDN University ecologists discovered an indicator of the quality of the urban environment

A correct assessment of the environmental condition in the city helps to make timely and correct decisions to protect people and nature. To do this, we need accurate and sensitive indicators - indicators that will allow us to judge the state of environmental components. RUDN University ecologists have shown that the state of microorganisms on the surface of leaves is such a sensitive indicator. Plants, or rather their vital activity, affect the air space around them. Its most significant part is the surface of the leaves. It is on the surface of the leaves those numerous microorganisms live, which determine the interaction of plants with the environment and at the same time depend on it themselves.

“In the city, fine dust accumulates on plants, in which many microorganisms live. In our study, we tested how distance from the source of pollution, a highway, affects the microbiome of dust from the surface of leaves. As microbial indicators, we chose the most informative: the taxonomic diversity of microscopic fungi and bacteria, their activity and the number of opportunistic forms,” - Kristina Ivashchenko, Candidate of Biological Sciences, researcher at the Institute of Physics and Biology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the center “Smart Technologies for Sustainable Development of the Urban Environment in Global Conditions” changes" RUDN University.

RUDN University ecologists examined the leaves of the birch Betula pendula in Moscow at a distance from the road from 2 to 50 meters. The most sensitive to the proximity of the road were the bacteria Pseudomonas and the fungi Dothiora sorbi and Exobasidium miyabei. The presence or absence of a particular group of microorganisms in itself does not characterize the quality of the environment, but in combination with information about the activity and pathogenicity of the microbial community it can be a useful tool in environmental assessment.

The work shows that closer to the road the activity and pathogenicity of microorganisms increases, and their taxonomic diversity decreases.

“We found that changes in microbial parameters are associated with an increased content of zinc in dust near roadside areas; its high concentrations can be toxic to living organisms. In addition, an additional factor is unfavorable microclimatic conditions, which, as a rule, form in open areas near roads: low humidity, elevated air temperatures and high levels of ultraviolet radiation,” Maria Korneykova, Candidate of Biological Sciences, senior researcher at the Smart Technologies Center sustainable development of the urban environment in the context of global changes" RUDN.

The results were published in the journal Plants.