Published date: Oct 29 2018

Journal Title: KnE Life Sciences

Issue title: The Fourth International Scientific Conference Ecology and Geography of Plants and Plant Communities

Pages: 118–124

DOI: 10.18502/kls.v4i7.3229

M G MalevaMaria.Maleva@urfu.ru

O S Sinenko

N V Chukina

G I Shyryaev

G G Borisova

I S Kiseleva

A study of leaf structure and CO2 assimilation rate was conducted on the emergent plant Calla palustris L. from natural habitats with different levels of technogenic pollution (the Sak-Elga River, upstream and downstream of the Karabash copper smelter, Chelyabinsk region, Russia). It was found that both chlorophyll a content and
the rate of CO2 assimilation decreased twofold in plants from the downstream site. No significant changes were observed in leaf mesophyll structure and the volume of aerenchyma in the leaf. It was shown that in plants from strongly contaminated site, the decrease in spongy mesophyll cell volume was compensated by the increase in their number, whereas the decrease in the number of chloroplasts per cell was accompanied by a growth in volume. It is concluded that the changes in the numerical and dimensional characteristics of mesophyll cells and chloroplasts provide for the viability of C. palustris under prolonged technogenic impact and demonstrate the plasticity of the photosynthetic apparatus.

Keywords: emergent plant, heavy metals, adaptation, leaf structure, CO2 uptake

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