Bioindication assessment of the impact of railway transport on environmental quality

Soskov Alexander, Streltsov Alexey

An urgent problem of any modern industry is the formation of a large amount of waste: emissions into the air, waste water, solid industrial waste, and so on. This study is devoted to the use of bioindication assessment of the impact of railway transport on the quality of the environment. The material for assessing the ecological health of the terrestrial natural part of the Kaluga region was collected at 5 stationary points located in the area of the Tikhonova Pustyn railway station, Kaluga region, Russia. The assessment of the territory of the Kaluga region was carried out using the most technologically advanced, widespread, well-studied, methodically tested, convenient and proven species - silver birch. At 5 selected points, birch leaves were collected for the subsequent calculation of the coefficients of fluctuating asymmetry of birch leaves. It was revealed that the zones of the study area, even remote from industrial facilities, are subject to their destructive effects. It was found that the main factors that negatively affect the health of the environment in the study area are as follows: railways, road, anthropogenic factor.

Keywords:bioindication assessment, railways, highways, anthropogenic factors, environmental quality