It’s not just people, animals and trees that
suffer from radiation at Chernobyl, writes Rachel Nuwer, but also decomposer
fungi and microbes. And with the buildup of dead wood comes the risk of
catastrophic fire – which could spread radiation far and wide. Nearly 30 years have passed since the Chernobyl
plant exploded and caused an unprecedented nuclear disaster. The effects of that catastrophe, however, are
still felt today.
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Although no people live in the extensive
exclusion zones around the epicenter, animals, trees and other plants still
show signs of radiation poisoning.
Birds around Chernobyl have significantly smaller
brains than those living in non-radiation poisoned areas. Trees grow
slower and fewer spiders and insects, including bees, butterflies and
grasshoppers, live there.
Additionally, game animals such as wild boar
caught outside of the exclusion zone, including some bagged as far away as
Germany, continue to show abnormal and dangerous levels of radiation.
The ecosystem damage goes deep
However, there are even more fundamental issues
going on in the environment. According to a new study published in Oecologia,
decomposers – organisms such as microbes, fungi and some types of insects that
drive the process of decay – have also suffered from the contamination.
These creatures are responsible for an essential
component of any ecosystem: recycling organic matter back into the soil. Issues
with such a basic-level process, the authors of the study think, could have
compounding effects for the entire ecosystem.
The team decided to investigate this question in
part because of a peculiar field observation: “We have conducted research in Chernobyl since 1991 and have
noticed a significant accumulation of litter over time.”
Chernobyl – where even the trees are petrified
Moreover, trees in the infamous Red Forest – an
area where all of the pine trees turned a reddish color and then died shortly
after the accident – did not seem to be decaying, even 15 to 20 years after the
meltdown.
“Apart from a few
ants, the dead tree trunks were largely unscathed when we first encountered
them”, says Timothy Mousseau, a biologist at the University of South
Carolina, Columbia, and lead author of the study.
“It was striking,
given that in the forests where I live, a fallen tree is mostly sawdust after a
decade of lying on the ground.”
Wondering whether that seeming increase in dead
leaves on the forest floor and those petrified-looking pine trees were indicative
of something larger, Mousseau and his colleagues decided to run some field
tests.
Read more at ENN affiliate, The
Ecologist.
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 2012 image via Shutterstock.