Natural and anthropogenic factors influence on the botanic natural sanctuary vegetation cover dynamics of the river Volga delta

The river Volga state assessment and landscape functioning is an extremely necessary part for stable and ecologically safe region development. One of the most important this assessment components is vegetation monitoring organization and conduction, which is the necessary part of modern ecosystem exploitation. Monitoring investigations brief results of the botanic natural monuments vegetation cover situated in the eastern part of the river Volga delta are shown in this work. Environment major factors change impact defining main ecological properties if deltoid landscape vegetation cover: some climatic characteristics, the river Volga hydrological regime changes and flooding conditions, vegetation cover differentiation peculiarities in dependence on deltoid land forms and confined processes to it are considered for the monitoring period. It was revealed during the monitoring that abrupt water-soluble salts amount increase in soils occurred, also toxicity level and soil salinization type from chloride- sulfate to sulfate-chloride, that affects vegetation cover: total biomass decrease, projective cover degree decrease on the all deltoid landscape high level, sedges and gramineous plant involvement degree decrease and herbs increase in vegetation cover due to ariditization degree and desert advancing caused either by natural or anthropogenic impact.

Recovery Dynamics of Lands Disturbed by Mining Operations due to Self-Organizing Principle of Natural Systems and its Forecasting Using Satellite Data

Environmental issues associated with the development of mineral deposits are largely caused by the need to store mining and processing waste which becomes a source of environmental pollution. Large areas of dumped ore processing wastes determine the expediency of applying satellite data to monitor the environmental condition of the disturbed lands in order to make justified decisions on restoring the integrity of natural landscapes, which is crucial for the Arctic regions. The purpose of the research is to use the satellite data as the basis to reveal the dynamics of plant formation on the surrounding natural terrain when implementing the technology developed in the Mining Institute of the Kola Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences in accordance with the self-organizing principle of natural systems in the framework of the rock-biota system evolution. This is achieved by introducing a gramineous plant community without creating a fertile layer, which creates a biologically active environment. Analysis of the vegetation index obtained from a time series of the satellite data that characterizes the introduced vegetational change of the gramineous plant community on the bund wall slopes at the Khibiny group of apatite-containing ore deposits demonstrates the determinant influence of phytocoenotic factors on the recovery dynamics of natural ecosystems. A geobotanical study of the monitoring site has shown that in transition from the introduced gramineous to the forest stage of vegetational change, we observe a tier structure and large-scale resettlement of species from the adjacent natural areas, which is consistent with an increase in the vegetation index and allows to predict the dynamics of the natural ecosystem recovery.

Characterization of Lignin Structures in Phyllostachys edulis (Moso Bamboo) at Different Ages

Bamboo is a gramineous plant widely distributed in China and has great prospects. Normally, local people cut bamboo culm at first year for paper milling or at six years for construction. Understanding lignin changes in bamboo with aging is necessary for better exploring the application of bamboo at different ages and can also promote the application of bamboo more effectively. Based on the previous study, the chemical structure and the lignin content of bamboo at different ages were further explored by FT-IR, GPC, NMR and other chemical methods in this paper. Results showed that the lignin structures of bamboo at different ages were similar with three monomers of S, G and H, but the molecular weight increased with age. Quantitative structure estimation further confirmed that S-type lignin content and S/G ratio of bamboo lignin constantly increased with age.

FLORA OF LAWNS IN THE CITY OF UFA

The paper presents a study in the flora of lawns in Ufa. The lawn flora is represented by 192 species belonging to 31 families. Based on coenotic and ecological characteristics, four ecological coenotic groups of species were singled out that were described in the lawn designated areas. The ecological coenotic groups were analysed for life form spectra, hemeroby, species activity. Among the plant communities of typical low-trampled and well-maintained urban lawns (the ecological coenotic group of Festuca pratensis) Poaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Rosaceae, Apiaceae families were the leading ones, where hemicryptophytes and oligo-meso-αeuhemerobes dominated. The lawns subjected to significant anthropogenic impact (trampling, salinization) (the ecological coenotic group of Taraxacum officinale) had a large number of species that belonged to the «ruderal» Polygonaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Brassicaceae, Lamiaceae families, where hemicryptophytes and meso-euhemerobes dominated. Ruderal species of Asteraceae, Poaceae, Amaranthaceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae, Polygonaceae families prevailed, with a large share of ruderal and semi-ruderal annual and biennial plants, β-eupolyhemerobes, in the lawn designated areas where gramineous plant community did not develop after soil disturbance (the ecological coenotic group of Chenopodium album). Ruderal species of Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae, Polygonaceae families with a large portion of ruderal annual and biennial β-eupolyhemerobes also dominated in humid and waterlogged lawn areas. The ecological ecoenotic groups of Taraxacum officinale, Chenopodium album and Bidens tripartita had a large number of neophyte species. The lawn areas with the ecological coenotic groups of Taraxacum officinale, Chenopodium album and Bidens tripartite were found as most colonized with ruderal plants. A number of measures are required to build dense grass covering: reconstruction and heavy maintenance of lawns combined with sowing quality lawn grass mixtures, regular mowing practices to reduce the number of ruderal hemytherophytes and therophytes, timely plant nutrition and watering.

Genome-wide identification and analysis of the CNGC gene family in maize

As one of the non-selective cation channel gene families, the cyclic nucleotide-gated channel (CNGC) gene family plays a vital role in plant physiological processes that are related to signal pathways, plant development, and environmental stresses. However, genome-wide identification and analysis of the CNGC gene family in maize has not yet been undertaken. In the present study, twelve ZmCNGC genes were identified in the maize genome, which were unevenly distributed on chromosomes 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. They were classified into five major groups: Groups I, II, III, IVa, and IVb. Phylogenetic analysis showed that gramineous plant CNGC genes expanded unequally during evolution. Group IV CNGC genes emerged first, whereas Groups I and II appeared later. Prediction analysis of cis-acting regulatory elements showed that 137 putative cis-elements were related to hormone-response, abiotic stress, and organ development. Furthermore, 120 protein pairs were predicted to interact with the 12 ZmCNGC proteins and other maize proteins. The expression profiles of the ZmCNGC genes were expressed in tissue-specific patterns. These results provide important information that will increase our understanding of the CNGC gene family in maize and other plants.

Molecular cloning, gene expression and functional expression of a phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase Osppc1 in developing rice seeds: implication of involvement in nitrogen accumulation

We isolated two cDNAs of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) from developing rice seeds, Osppc1 and Osppc3. The deduced amino acid sequences of both cDNAs share several conserved motifs with other non-photosynthetic PEPCases, and these common motifs are known to be functionally important to their regulatory properties. The deduced protein sequence of Osppc1 was clustered into a monocotyledonous plant-specific clade, and Osppc3 was clustered into a gramineous plant-specific clade in the phylogenetic tree of plant PEPCases. The mRNA accumulations of Osppc1 and Osppc3 were found in developing rice seeds throughout the grain-filling stages, although their expression patterns differed: Osppc1 was strongly expressed at 7 d after flowering, and Osppc3 was strongly expressed at 4 d after flowering. The kinetic properties of the Osppc1 recombinant protein were quite similar to those of maize root-type PEPCase, except that the sensitivity for malate at pH 7.3 was weaker. Mining rice microarray data, we observed that Osppc1 was co-expressed with aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, which are involved in seed nitrogen metabolism. Moreover, reannotation of the co-expressed genes revealed that Osppc1, the two aminotransferases and the enolase were mapped on to the consecutive reaction from 2-phosphoglycerate to glutamate and pyruvate in the cytosol. These results imply that Osppc1 functions cooperatively with the two aminotransferases in the synthesis of amino acids that are used for storage protein synthesis in developing rice seeds.