Assessment of the impact of radiation contamination on radial growth of petiole oak in the Alekseevskoye lesnichestvo of Belgorod oblast

Abstract

Nowadays the issues related to environmental pollution by factors of various origins are topical. The article considers the impact of such technogenic pollution as radiation. At present. the study of this area is quite relevant. since a prosperous human existence does not do without the use of nuclear energy. In this regard. the risk of catastrophes is increasing. which entails irreversible consequences for plant communities and the biosphere as a whole. An example of such irreversible consequences is the largest catastrophe of the last century, which occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. It is the consequences associated with this event are affected in this paper. since the objects of the study are located in the area directly exposed to the wave of radiation damage. The paper reveals the issue of the impact of radiation contamination on plants. The object of the study were plantations of oak cherry. Plots with minimum (1-4.99 Curie) and maximum (5-14.99 Curie) radiation doses. as well as a "clean" control plot were selected. We clarified the features of the influence of different doses of radiation on the growth of pedunculate oak using the dendrochronological method and revealed the reliability of the results obtained using mathematical statistics methods for a selected number of samples. The dynamics of radial growth of oak trees at the studied objects was studied. Based on the obtained analytical data, a tendency for the influence of radiation on growth was established, namely, a decrease in the values of radial growth was established. It was also established that the change in growth depends on the dose of radioactive radiation the objects under study were exposed to.