No 6 (2023): Экспериментальная биология и экология

The authors have developed the biotechnology of railroad crashed stone ballast remediation with simultaneous producing of fatty acids suitable as biodiesel precursors using the algal-bacterial-yeast consortium and the biogeosorbent on its basis.

The efficiency of petroleum hydrocarbons removal during exposition to biological aditives under vigorous stirring was 97–98 %. Even on the repeated use of the same suspension, the optimal number of cycles to tumble ballast efficiently was determined to be 5. A decline of the petroleum hydrocarbon content to acceptable norms for the allowable residual content of oil in the soil was achieved in 90 days after plowed-down application of tank bottoms.

Fatty acids of the suspension of the algal-bacterial-yeast consortium have a low value of the unsaturation degree suggesting the high biofuel oxidation stability. The cetane number, iodine value, and physicochemical properties of renewable fuels produced comply with the requirements of the European Standard EN 14 214 and the Russian National Standard 33131–2014, regardless of the exposure time.

The efficiency of application of cationic polyacrylamide and its hydrophobized derivative at the stage of cell biomass separation from the cell cultures fluid is estimated. Cells of oil-degrading microorganisms obtained from mixed culture fluid by flocculation and flotation retain their viability for further use in the treatment of oil-contaminated soils under non-sterile conditions. The application of a new form of oil-oxidizing preparation resulted in a 40 % reduction of total petroleum hydrocarbon content in the contaminated soil.

The study results of zoobenthos of the lower part of the Vychegda River and its tributaries are presented. Bentofauna includes 21 taxons of invertebrates ranging from 4 to 14 between the water-bodies. The number of invertebrates in the rivers varies from 300 to 17 850 inds./m² being 5310±1403 inds./m² on the average. Invertebrate biomass ranges from 0.1 g/m² in sandy grounds to 28.8 g/m² in sandy-silty grounds averaging 5.8±2.6 g/m². By the index of E.V. Balushkina, the Vychegda River along 222 km from the mouth is a polluted river. For the other water-bodies, the E.V. Balushkina index ranges from 2.9 to 6.5 which allows them to be classified as moderately polluted water-bodies.

Information on the flora of the Lower Ob River floodplain being about 500 km long within the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YNAO) has been summarized for the first time. The taxonomic diversity of the floodplain flora is considered in the latitudinal aspect. The total number of taxa is 322 including 301 species, 18 subspecies and three species variations. The taxa belong to 155 genera and 56 families. They are given in the alphabetical order. The floristic richness of floodplain vegetation changes and the Sørensen coefficient between floras of the study areas decreases from south to north are shown. 21 % of taxa are found throughout the whole floodplain territory. The proportions of the identified flora are considered in comparison with the floodplain flora of the Middle and Upper Ob. The authors have found new habitats of four taxa listed in the Red Data Book of the YNAO (2010), four from Appendix 1 of the Red Data Book and 29 taxa being rare for the territory of the Okrug, including two listed for the Okrug for the first time.

The geometric morphometrics methods were used to evaluate differences in the variability of the size and shape of the mandible in experimental groups of descendants of BALB/c, CBA and BC/IPAE linear mice with standard (control) and two disturbed diets of the mother: diet-1 – nutrition with oat grains during pregnancy and feeding of offspring; diet-2 – change of the mother’s diet from oatmeal monodiet to the standard nutrition after the birth of young mice. The most significant contribution to changeability of centroid sizes (CS) was made by the factor “diet” (D), not “line” (L), as well as by the interaction of factors “L x D”. The influence of the factor “sex” (S) did not manifest itself. The variation in the shape of the mandible was caused mainly not by factor D but by factor L. The maternal diet regimes had an ambiguous effect on the growth and development: diet-1 caused growth inhibition and destabilization of mandible morphogenesis, whereas diet-2 made sizes, shape and stability of morphogenesis in all lines similar to the control groups. The results can be used to solve a number of problems on population ecology, as well as taken into account in the field of medical perinatal nutritional science.

The search for drugs that slow down the rate of aging and stimulate radioresistance is an urgent task of biology, ecology, and medicine. In this work we have studied the effects of trichostatin A and berberine on the lifespan, resistance to the paraquat prooxidant and acute gamma irradiation of the Drosophila melanogaster fruit fly. Trichostatin A demonstrated a better geroprotective effect, increasing the Drosophila lifespan by 3-9 %. However, an increase in radioresistance was observed only after the application of berberine in males. Their median survival after gamma irradiation increased by 25 %. Trichostatin A, on the contrary, increased the sensitivity of flies to gamma irradiation genotoxic effects, reducing the survival by 7-17 %.

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