Influence of the Urban Environment on the English Oak (Quercus Robur L.) Growth and Development

Abstract

The morphological parameters of the maternal trees growth, seed progeny and seedlings, and the value of the fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of the leaves of adult plants under urban influence were estimated. Urban oak groves have a low growth rate of shoots. Rural and suburban oak groves are characterized by an increase in the shoot. The coefficients of variation (Cv) in the length and width of leaf blades are generally low; only for 1 territory near urban radius and experiencing the influence of industrial enterprises, the Cv of the length of the leaf blade is 29.3% and the width of the leaf blade - 30.4%. FA for all oak forests, with the exception of Chizhovskoe tract (0.056), not exceed 0.04, thus, they are resistant to the anthropogenic factor. The average growth of seedlings is 13-14 cm. The coefficient of variation for shoot length for most groups of seedlings exceeds 30%. The suburban seedlings have the largest shoot thickness and exceed 0.3 cm. Among urban seedlings, the oak population in the most distant from the city (middle circle), is close to this indicator. The areas of the lowest emission load of pollutants coincide with the forest areas of the city.