Antibacterial activity of plants is a subject of interest in the search for new antibiotics and fungicidal preparations. This article analyzes the effectiveness of the action of extracts of plants on microorganisms: six species of bacteria (Salmonella typhimurium, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Corynebacterium xerosis, Proteus vulgaris) and one fungus (Candida albicans). For the assay, we used herbal material of 50 species (seeds, grass, shoots, leaves, compound fruit, peel) obtained at different periods of the growing season. We studied Levisticum officinale, Petroselinum crispum, Nerium oleander, Vinca minor, Eleutherococcus senticosus, E. sieboldianus, Yucca filamentosa, Artemisia annua, Echinacea purpurea, Matricaria recutita, Tanacetum vulgare, Betula pendula, Corylus avellana, Buxus sempervirens, Humulus lupulus, Crassula ovata, Bryophyllum daigremontianum, Juniperus communis, Platycladus orientalis, Cycas revoluta, Calluna vulgaris, Rhododendron ferrugineum, Ceratonia siliqua, Trigonella foenum-graecum, Ribes nigrum, Phellinus tuberculosus, Lavandula angustifolia, Melissa officinalis, Monarda fistulosa, Origanum vulgare, Salvia sclarea, Laurus nobilis, Punica granatum, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Menispermum dauricum, Ficus benjamina, Morus alba, Paeonia suffruticosa, Picea abies, Adonis vernalis, Amelanchier ovalis, Prunus armeniaca, Crataegus monogyna, Citrus sinensis, Salix babylonica, Bergenia crassifolia, Schisandra chinensis, Taxus baccata and Xanthoria parietina. The alcohol tincture was filtered with sterile multi-layer gauze disc filters. Before the discs were put on the surface of agar with inoculation of the corresponding culture, they were dried in a sterile laminar box under ultraviolet rays. Antibacterial activity of various tinctures was determined by the disk diffusion method in agar with the measurement of the diameter of the growth suppression zone of the culture using a template ruler. Maximum inhibiting effect was achieved for Punica granatum on K. рneumonia, L. monocytogenes, S. typhimurium, P. vulgaris, C. хerosis and E. сoli, Lavandula angustifolia – on P. vulgaris, K. рneumonia and S. typhimurium, Echinacea purpurea – on C. аlbicans, E. сoli, P. vulgaris, K. рneumonia, Bergenia crassifolia – on P. vulgaris, K. pneumonia and S. typhimurium.

Shulman, M.V., Pakhomov, O.Y., Brygadyrenko, V.V., 2017. Effect of lead and cadmium ions upon the pupariation and morphological changes in Calliphora vicina (Diptera, Calliphoridae). Folia Oecologica, 44: 28-37.Modelling the influence of different concentrations of lead and cadmium ions upon a laboratory culture of insects has not been adequately studied. In our research, we assessed the influence of cadmium and lead nitrates at different concentrations (10 -2 -10 -9 М) upon the development of larvae, pupae and imagines of Calliphora vicina Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 (Diptera: Calliphoridae). We found an acceleration in the development of larvae and an increase in mass of puparia when lead ions were added to the food of the larvae, and decrease in the mass of puparia when cadmium ions were added. We registered nanism and malformation of the fly imagines in experiments with lead and cadmium in the food substrate. We observed that under the influence of the studied heavy metal ions there was a reduced motor activity of the fly larvae at all stages of development, a delay in formation of puparia and a delay in the emergence of imagines in comparison with the control group.

The litter macrofauna of 8 plantations of Populus italica (Du Roi) Moench, P. deltoides Marsh. and P. alba L. was studied in the city of Dnipro. The invertebrates were taken by manual sifting of litter from experimental plots of 8 m 2 . The total number of litter macrofauna in the poplar plantations varied from 8 to 187 specimen/m 2 , on average 53 specimen/m 2 . The greatest variety of species was obtained from a white poplar plantation with common hop and an elm-poplar plantation with bare soil and Amorpha fruticosa L. bushes (15 and 9 species correspondingly). The maximum readings on the Shannon-Weaver diversity index come from the abovementioned areas (3.2 and 2.9 bits respectively). The highest number of zoophages (40%) was obtained from the white poplar plantation with common hop. There was great consistency in the species composition across the plots, with the same 60 species (more than 50% of the total number of species of litter macrofauna recorded in the study) being found in 7 out of the 8 study plots. The share of species rare for any given ecosystem exceeded 10% in only 2 out of the 8 plantations studied. The dominant group in the size structure of the litter macrofauna of the poplar plantations (44-96%) was invertebrates of 4-7 mm length. In 5 out of 8 poplar plantations no species over 15 mm in length were found. This indicates the degraded size structures of the litter macrofauna communities. In taxonomic structure the dominant groups were Formicidae, Pulmonata, Porcellionidae, Lygaeidae, Julidae, Silphidae, Araneae, Carabidae, Staphylinidae. The results obtained indicate the low variety and degradation of the trophic and size structure of the litter macrofauna of these urban poplar plantations, which are subject to lack of moisture.

Відносна чисельність сапрофагів максимальних значень досягає у гігромезофільних, мезогігрофільних та гігрофільних, а мінімальних-у мезофільних умовах зволоження. Частка рідкісних видів максимальна у гігромезофільних умовах зволоження. Мінімальна кількість масових видів також спостерігається в умовах гігромезофільних і мезогігрофільних широколистяних лісів. У разі зростання зволоження ґрунту кількість видів Carabidae, Formicidae та інших домінантних родин залишається без достовірних змін. Відносна чисельність Formicidae максимальна у ксеромезофільних і мезофільних умовах зволоження ґрунту. У цих самих гігротопах, а також у гігромезофільних умовах зволоження максимальна чисельність Julidae. Відсоток у мезофауні Isopoda достовірно зростає у мезогігрофільних та гігрофільних умовах зволоження. Частка інших домінантних таксономічних груп у структурі підстилкової мезофауни за чисельністю залишається без достовірних змін. У більшості проаналізованих гігротопів 7-8 родин входять до складу домінантів. В умовах засолення (трофотопи De та E), а також на легких супіщаних ґрунтах чисельність підстилкової мезофауни зменшується. Частка сапрофагів мінімальна у трофотопах Dc і E, у трофотопах C, Dac, Dn та De вона зростає. Наближається до оптимальної розмірна структура підстилкової мезофауни трофотопів Dac та Dn. Максимальна кількість видів Carabidae виявлена у трофотопі Dn. Кількість видів Formicidae зростає у трофотопах De та E. Чисельність Formicidae максимальна у лісових екосистемах трофотопів De та E. Частка Isopoda максимальна для лісових екосистем трофотопу De.

The article analyses the patterns in the horizontal structure of litter invertebrate communities in windbreak plantations in the Steppe zone of the Ukraine. The number of invertebrate species shows statistically insignificant changes depending on the extent of the litter horizon development. With an increase in litter mass from 300 to 900 g/m2 the number of invertebrate species increases. An increase in the total number of macrofauna is observed in areas having a minimum and maximum thickness of the litter layer. Maximum values in the Shannon diversity index were observed in areas with sparse litter (50–150 g/m2). An observed increase in the variety of macrofauna species were seen where there was sparse grass cover in windbreak planted areas. The total number of litter invertebrate individuals related to the percentage of projective cover of herbaceous plants shows a significant increase in plots with 20–28% cover, though this factor does not affect the number of Aranei, Carabidae, and Staphylinidae. There is a decrease in the number of litter invertebrate species in areas with higher numbers of Lasius platythorax Seifert, 1991, while there is an insignificant change in the overall numbers of macrofauna. The abundance of Myrmica scabrinodis Nylander, 1846 does not show a significant influence on the number of litter macrofauna species. The minimum values of the Shannon biodiversity index for macrofauna were registered in plots with maximum numbers of M. scabrinodis. With an increase in the abundance of ants, the abundance of litter saprophages and phytophages decreases. There are also significant changes in the dominance structure of other taxonomic groups. Biotic factors have greater significance for the horizontal structure of litter macrofauna of steppe plantations than abiotic factors.