2022 Issue №1

The article provides data on the present-day species composition of Sphagna in the Wittgirrensky peatland (the territory of the Carbon Polygon “Rossyanka”, Slavsk District, Kaliningrad Region). The authors found 8 species of Sphagnum mostly growing in hydrophilic habitats at the bottom of drainage ditches and flooded depressions on the outskirts of the peatland, while the major part of the peatland shows unfavorable environmental conditions for the development of Sphagnum. The situation may well be changed via implementation of the rewetting project. In this case, the species of Sphagna become a significant bioindicator for environmental monitoring in the whole ecosystem. The hydrophilic habitats might be considered as shelters (refugia) for Sphagna as well as important study objects for investigation of Green House Gas emission/sequestration within the Carbon Polygon Programme.

Microalgae are common in soil, marine and freshwater ecological systems. They are able to accumulate valuable biologically active substances in the course of life. At present, microalgae have not been studied well enough. Thus, the purpose of this project was to study the physicochemical properties of microalgae of the Baltic Sea in the Kaliningrad region. The amount of protein was determined by the Bradford method, while lipids were assessed by the Folch method. As a result of the work, it was proved that the maximum value of the indicator — optical density — was noted in the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris. Pleurochrysis carterae and Arthrospira platensis are characterized by the highest suspension density after 7 days of cultivation. The smallest is Chlorella vulgaris. High values of dynamic viscosity were found in suspensions of Dunaliella salina and Pleurochrysis carterae microalgae. Suspension of microalgae Arthrospira platensis is characterized by the lowest value of dynamic viscosity. It has been established that the value of the active acidity of the suspension of all the studied samples of microalgae have different values, but all the studied microalgae is found to grow and actively develop in an alkaline environment. It has been shown that during the cultivation of microalgae cell culture, the largest amount of protein accumulates in Arthrospira platensis. The amount of protein in the cultivation of Dunaliella salina and Chlorella vulgaris cell cultures was approximately the same. It is planned to create dietary supplements and functional foods from secondary metabolites of microalgae.

The research evaluates the effect of amino acids (phenylalanine and tyrosine) on the growth and content of biologically active substances in the culture of bearded roots of Hyssopys officinalis. The study of the effect of amino acids on the growth of raw biomass of bearded roots of H. officinalis showed that when phenylalanine and tyrosine were introduced into the nutrient medium at a concentration of 1 μM, the maximum increase in biomass was observed. The content of biologically active substances in the bearded roots of H. officinalis, such as phenolic compounds, flavonoids, hydroxycinnamic acids and the antioxidant activity of extracts, were higher when tyrosine was introduced into the nutrient medium compared with phenylalanine supplements.