Journal of Environmental Biology

Studies on antimicrobial activity of  pyramidal black pine (Pinus nigra ssp. pallasiana var. pyramidata): an endemic plant close to become extinct

Ulku Eser Unaldi¹ and Sevil Toroglu*²

¹Department of Geography Education, Faculty of Education, Gazi University, 06500 - Ankara, Turkey

²Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Arts, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, 46045 - Kahramanmaras, Turkey

(Received: October 25, 2007; Revised received: July 11, 2008; Accepted: August 10, 2008)

Abstract: Turkey is one of the richest areas at middle latitudes in terms of plant diversity. One of Turkey’s (Anatolia) endemic plants is pyramidal black pine (Pinus nigra ssp. pallasiana var. pyramidata). But, it was observed that the pyramidal black pine, which is part of Turkey’s important biological richness, came close to become extinct. This study was carried out to investigate the drying of the pyramidal black pine in the specific Vakifkoy area having semi arid to humid climatic conditions on the one hand, and the effects of different thermal power plants on drying of the pyramidal black pine on the other hand. In addition, the study was designed to examine the effects of mistletoe on drying this plant and even the antimicrobial activities of this plant. As a result, we can conclude that the negative effects of semi arid climatic conditions, climatic variables, drought, mistletoe, silver factory and thermal power plants are still not clear on the pyramidal black pine trees. However, when the results of this study were compared with ampicillin (10 mcg) and nystatin (30 mcg) standards, it was found that extracts of pyramidal black pine were particularly found to possess stronger antimicrobial activity.

Key words: Pinus nigra ssp. Endemic plant, Climatic change, Biodiversity, Mistletoe, Antimicrobial activity

PDF of full length paper is available with author (*storoglu@ksu.edu.tr)

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