The article deals with the problems of induction of the anatomical and morphological structure of plants of different life forms under the conditions of a long-term chronic action of ionising radiation on the territory of the Northern nuclear power plant. Currently, the study and assessment of the radioecological situation on the territory of the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, taking into account the ecological state of natural plant and animal populations, is of particular importance. The study of the reaction of living organisms, be it plants or animals, to different doses of chronic ionising radiation makes it possible to assess and diagnose the state of environmental quality, and these organisms themselves can serve as bioindicators of pollution. On the territory of the Semipalatinsk test site, at the experimental site “Balapan”, 3 sections with meadow type of soil were studied: polluted section no. 1 – the northwestern shore of Lake Chagan, polluted section no. 2 – the north-eastern shore of Lake Chagan, and control section no. 3. For structural analysis, the study recorded the vegetative organs of plant species with an increased radiation background. It was found that when the EDR (exposure dose rate) of gamma radiation increases and the plant growth is stimulated. In the conditions of radioactive contamination, with an increase in the activity of alpha, beta and gamma radiation, plants response and changes occur in the internal structure of their vegetative organs. Such adaptive features arise under the influence of a complex of environmental factors, including radiation pollution.

This study investigated the quantitative anatomy of photosynthetic tissues (leaf mesostructure) of wild ginseng Panax ginseng C.A. Mey. (Araliaceae) plants from different natural habitats. The structural and functional traits of the photosynthetic apparatus shown to be especially elastic were mesophyll cell volume (Cv >40%) and traits related to filling of the leaf with cells and plastids (Cv≥21%). P. ginseng possesses relatively few cells per leaf area (44.6-107.2 103/cm2) and chloroplasts (1.7-4.9 106/cm2). Also low are the values of such integral indexes as relative surface of mesophyll cells (Ames/A, 2.78-5.28) and relative surface of chloroplasts (Achl/A, 1.9-3.2). The leaf mesostructure of wild ginseng shows traits of a plant typically found in shady forest habitats. The photosynthetic apparatus of ginseng adapts to various habitat conditions on the level of leaf mesostructure, through structural transformations of mesophyll tissue, such as changes in the number and size of cells and chloroplasts and also the integral surface indexes Achl/A and Ames/A.