Photosynthetic pigments in herbaceous plants on the territory of Railway Stations in the Kola Peninsula cities

Abstract

For the first time, a study on photosynthetic pigments found in native (Chamaenerion angustifolium (L.) Scop., Taraxacum officinale F. H. Wigg) and introduced herbaceous plants (Primula elatior (L.) Hill, Trollius asiaticus L.) growing in subarctic regions is presented. Plant species were collected close to railway stations in five cities of the Kola Subarctic (Murmansk, Olenegorsk, Apatity, Polyarnye Zori, Kandalaksha). The leaves for pigment analysis were collected at comparable times during the growing season of plants. In the leaves of Ch. angustifolium, the content of pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoids) was higher than in T. officinale (except Murmansk). In T. asiaticus the content of photosynthetic pigments was comparable to native species. P. elatior was inferior to other species in terms of the content of chlorophyll b and carotenoids. In the leaves of T. asiaticus on the territory of the railway stations Polyarnye Zori and Kandalaksha, shifts in the ratio of the main groups of pigments were noted. Application of maximum permissible concentrations Ni, Cu, Cd, Pb for comparison with the actual content of the pollutants in soils of railway stations showed that the soils contaminated only by Ni and Cu (3-6 times), with a maximum in Olenegorsk. Low soil contamination with Pb was found only in Kandalaksha. The impact of soil pollution with heavy metals on native species was not revealed. For introduced species, a weak non-significant positive relationship was found (r = 0.56). A high correlation coefficient was obtained for the total content of chlorophylls in the leaves of T. asiaticus (r = 0.83) and P. elatior (r = 0.89) in Kandalaksha, caused by the content of nitrogenous compounds in the soil associated with the use of fertilizers in the flower garden.