A. K. Butorina and E. V. Kormilitsyna
Voronezh State University, Universitetskaya pl. 1, Voronezh, 394693 Russia
Received April 23, 2001
Abstract—We studied the development of the vegetative and generative spheres in the weeping birch from the
30-km zone surrounding the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant. Being the most sensitive ontogenetic stages,
the mitotic and meiotic processes are capable of responding to the effects of various factors, including unfavor-
able environmental factors. Studies were carried out from 1998 to 2000 in Novovoronezh under conditions of
potential hazard for normal development (a possible joint effect of chronic ionizing irradiation at low doses
from the Novovoronezh nuclear power plant and elevated concentrations of some chemical substances as side
products of the plant activity) and in the ecologically pure territory of the Biological Station Venevitinovo of
the Voronezh State University. Significant deviations from the normal course of mitotic and meiotic processes
have been recorded in the experimental variant and specific types of disturbances have been described. A sug-
gestion has been put forward concerning some mechanisms underlying the weeping birch adaptation to unfa-
vorable environmental conditions. Specifically, it was shown that the trees studied were of a mixoploid nature.
No such studies have ever been carried out in the region of this nuclear power plant, one of the oldest in Russia.
Key words: weeping birch, Novovoronezh nuclear power plant, mitosis, meiosis during microsporogenesis,
mitotic index, nucleolar activity, mitosis pathologies, mixoploidy, stomata.
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