INFLUENCE OF HEAVY METALS ON GAMETOPHYTE DIFFERENTIATION IN TWO DRYOPTERIS SPECIES IN ROMANIA’S FLORA

• Main Authors: Oana Alexandra Drăghiceanu, Liliana Cristina Soare, Codruţa Mihaela Dobrescu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Editura Universitatii din Pitesti 2015-12-01
• Series: Current Trends in Natural Sciences
• Subjects: pollution; heavy metals; ferns
• Online Access: http://www.upit.ro/uploads/revistastiinte/CTNS%20vol%204%20issue%208/Paper%204.pdf

In this work we aimed to study the influence of Zn, Cu and Pb compounds on spore germination and gametophyte development in the species Dryopteris affinis (Lowe) Fraser-Jenkins and Dryopteris filix-mas (L.) Schott. The following initial variants were prepared: V1Cu 140 mg•L-1 Knop solution, V1Zn 300 mg•L-1 Knop solution, V1Pb 300 mg•L-1 Knop solution. From these variants we considered V2 and V32 as the concentrations, respectively, 5 and 10 times higher than the initial ones. The percentage of spores germinated was noted to decrease with the increase in the metal concentration in the solution so that there are significant differences between the control and metal variants; in some variants there was no germination reported: in V3Pb in both species and in V2Pb in the Dryopteris filix-mas. With regard to the gametophyte differentiation in very few variants, the stage of chordate prothallus was reached (C, V1Pb, V1Zn: in the two species). In V2 and V3, regardless of the species and metal, the spores and filaments turn to necrosis.