Evaluation of recreation areas ecological state by method of Betula pendula Roth. Leaves fluctuating asymmetry

The given article contains the results of Betula pendula Roth. sustainability evaluation implemented using the method of leaf fluctuating asymmetry under the conditions of recreation of high-altitude Ust-Koksinskiy Administrative District of the Altai Republic, which is suffering from a real tourist boom. Ecosystems existing in mountain environments are known to be the most vulnerable ones. Recreational load of Ust-Koksinskiy district is distributed unevenly: there are areas with weak load (conservation area), middle load (controlled tourism area), and strong load (servicing zone). To form a more integral conception of interpopular distances nature and B. pendula leaf asymmetry level, the model samplings were examined in the sphere of principal components. Our research indicated that all the original features make a positive contribution to the first principal component, thus, it can be considered as a variable which reflects differences between linear (absolute) sizes of the leaf. In this case, the first component takes off 39.38% of dispersion. Differences between the conservation area and controlled tourism area samplings and the sampling taken from the servicing zone can be clearly observed along the axis of the first component. It should be noted that certain asymmetry is inherent to B. pendula leaves. It is manifested in the fact that the right half of the leaf is slightly bigger than the left half in all the researched cases. Apparently, this is one of the biological features of the given model species. Another conspicuous fact is that leaf asymmetry increases pointedly depending on the anthropogenic load increase rate. This observation is supported by the trend towards the increase of the distance between the appropriate sampling centroids. The second principal component describes 25.5% of the total dispersion, and distinct differences between the given samplings are observed along the vector of its values. Veins on the leaves taken from the conservation area are slightly distant from each other in comparison with samples from the other populations. Plants taken from the controlled tourism area have wider angle between the main axis and the first vein from the base of the leaf. Along with distinct differences between the samplings, the componential analysis revealed the pointed increase of B. pendula leaf asymmetry depending on the anthropogenic load increase. We ascertained that the main contribution into B. pendula leaf asymmetry is made by the element ''interveinal distance'', which is the most informative one for recreation area bio-indication. Numerical score of the environmental qualification of recreation areas of Ust-Koksinskiy district demonstrated that the value of B. pendula leaf asymmetry increase is dependent on the level of recreational load.

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