Influence of urban ecosystems on phytoncide activity of woody plants

Abstract

Goal. Identify the relationship and trace the pattern between phytoncide activity of woody plants and the content of green pigments in their leaves in an urban environment. Methods. Integrated use of field, laboratory, mathematical and statistical, computational and comparative methods and system analysis. Results. Very high antimicrobial activity was found in the leaves of A. platanoides, P. simonii and S. vulgaris against both test cultures at all monitoring points in August (Table 1). All species are characterized by summer phytoncide. For the studied species there was a tendency to higher antimicrobial activity against gram-negative bacteria E. coli, compared with B. subtilis, except for the leaves of P. x canadensis. In all areas, including the control, the content of chlorophyll a exceeded the content of chlorophyll b (Table 2). Chlorophyll a accounts for 50–56% of the total mass of green pigments in the contaminated area. Conclusions. The analysis of phytoncide activity of wood cultures in the conditions of the urban environment is carried out. High phytoncide activity was detected in Acer platanoides, Populus simonii and Syringa vulgaris in August. The specificity of antimicrobial action of woody plants in relation to Bacillus subtilis and Esherichia coli has been established. In the contaminated area along the highway, a decrease in the amount of chlorophyll was observed compared to the control and an increase in phytoncide activity. The content of chlorophyll a in the first experimental site in all studied plants, with the exception of Tilia cordata, was higher than the content of chlorophyll b. Most species are characterized by high antimicrobial activity during the study period, with the exception of Robinia pseudoacacia and Tilia cordata.