Chernobyl site is teeming with wildlife
Oct 7, 2015 16:32:37 GMT 10
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Post by Wes Gear on Oct 7, 2015 16:32:37 GMT 10
Chernobyl site is teeming with wildlife, researchers find
NEARLY 30 years on from the world’s worst nuclear accident, scientists have made a surprising discovery inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
A study tracking wildlife population in the 4200 sq km-area has found that the numbers of large mammals including elk, roe deer, red deer and wild boar are on a par with those found in four other nature reserves in the region.
The number of wolves found inside the Chernobyl zone is seven times more than those found in similar nature reserves nearby.
“These results demonstrate for the first time that, regardless of potential radiation effects on individual animals, the Chernobyl exclusion zone supports an abundant mammal community after nearly three decades of chronic radiation exposures,” the authors wrote.
The 1986 accident at Chernobyl’s Nuclear Power Plant remains the worst nuclear disaster the world has seen and led to 116,000 people being permanently evacuated from the site, which covers land in Ukraine and Belarus.
While the site has been deemed not fit for human habitation, the data captured by helicopter and ground observation shows that wild animals have flourished in the area contrary to the author’s expectations.
Scientists Mike Wood and Nick Beresford said further research is needed now to help understand the effects of radiation and similar techniques could be used to evaluate the impact of the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
“The finding goes against what may be expected to be seen: that ionising radiation is hazardous to living organisms. The results may even be taken to imply that raised radiation levels may have a beneficial effect on wildlife,” they said.
“However, it is important to keep in mind that as humans have left the zone, there is no agriculture, forestry or hunting to threaten wildlife. So radiation is most likely not good for animals, but removing humans definitely is.”
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NEARLY 30 years on from the world’s worst nuclear accident, scientists have made a surprising discovery inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
A study tracking wildlife population in the 4200 sq km-area has found that the numbers of large mammals including elk, roe deer, red deer and wild boar are on a par with those found in four other nature reserves in the region.
The number of wolves found inside the Chernobyl zone is seven times more than those found in similar nature reserves nearby.
“These results demonstrate for the first time that, regardless of potential radiation effects on individual animals, the Chernobyl exclusion zone supports an abundant mammal community after nearly three decades of chronic radiation exposures,” the authors wrote.
The 1986 accident at Chernobyl’s Nuclear Power Plant remains the worst nuclear disaster the world has seen and led to 116,000 people being permanently evacuated from the site, which covers land in Ukraine and Belarus.
While the site has been deemed not fit for human habitation, the data captured by helicopter and ground observation shows that wild animals have flourished in the area contrary to the author’s expectations.
Scientists Mike Wood and Nick Beresford said further research is needed now to help understand the effects of radiation and similar techniques could be used to evaluate the impact of the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
“The finding goes against what may be expected to be seen: that ionising radiation is hazardous to living organisms. The results may even be taken to imply that raised radiation levels may have a beneficial effect on wildlife,” they said.
“However, it is important to keep in mind that as humans have left the zone, there is no agriculture, forestry or hunting to threaten wildlife. So radiation is most likely not good for animals, but removing humans definitely is.”
It’s thought animals have benefited from the lack of humans in the area. Picture: The Conversation.
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