Biological Diagnostics Of The Ecological State Of Urban Ecosystems

AnnotationThe processes of urbanization and the development of industrial production entail active environmental pollution with pollutants of various nature. The existing analytical methods for their determination in natural media make it possible to reveal their concentration. But in conditions of complex soil pollution, this approach does not give a complete picture of their total impact on living organisms. In the course of the study, an assessment was made of the ecological state of soils in large administrative and industrial centers of the Southern Urals (the cities of Orenburg and Mednogorsk) in terms of their phytotoxicity and enzymatic activity. On the territory of the objects of study, soil samples were taken from a layer of 0-20 cm in various functional zones. Phytotoxicity was assessed using a wheat test culture, and indicators of urease and catalase activity were used to assess biological activity. The calculation of the integral indicator of the ecological state on their basis showed the development of processes of degradation of the soil cover of cities under the influence of urbanization.