Assessment of the degree of air pollution by fluctuating asymmetry of leaves of various tree species

Abstract

Fluctuating asymmetry of the hanging birch ( Betula pendula Roth), black poplar ( Populus nigra L . ), common ash ( Fraxinus excelsior L . ), common maple ( Acer platanoides L . ), common lilac ( Syringa vulgaris ) was evaluated as an integral measure based on five morphometric features of the plate. Samples of the leaf apparatus were taken at each point of technogenic load from the lower part of the crown of several close-growing trees of Betula pendula Roth, Populus nigra, Fraxinus, Acer platanoides and Syringa randomly select 30 intact leaves from each tree. In the future, calculations of the coefficient of fluctuating asymmetry were carried out in order to obtain an average value that determines the quality of the air environment corresponding to a certain score. An attempt was also made to find the correlation relationship of each bilateral feature with the average coefficient of fluctuating asymmetry. As a result, the correlation coefficient was equal to one, which corresponds to a high correlation. Considering this circumstance, it was decided to find a connection between the correlation dependence of the fluctuating asymmetry of the hanging birch with the fluctuating asymmetry of the leaf apparatus of poplar, maple, ash and lilac. The correlation coefficients were close to one, which made it possible to compile regression equations, with the help of which air quality assessment scales were compiled.