There is considerable uncertainty regarding radiation's effects on biodiversity in natural complex ecosystems typically subjected to multiple environmental disturbances and stresses. In this study we characterised the relationships between soil microbial communities and estimated total absorbed dose rates to bacteria, grassy vegetation and trees in the Red Forest region of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. Samples were taken from sites of contrasting ecological histories and along burn and no burn areas following a wildfire.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite the ubiquity of pollutants in the environment, their long-term ecological consequences are not always clear and still poorly studied. This is the case concerning the radioactive contamination of the environment following the major nuclear accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Notwithstanding the implications of evolutionary processes on the population status, few studies concern the evolution of organisms chronically exposed to ionizing radiation in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough soil organisms are essential for ecosystem function, the impacts of radiation on soil biological activity at highly contaminated sites has been relatively poorly studied. In April-May 2016, we conducted the first largescale deployment of bait lamina to estimate soil organism (largely soil invertebrate) feeding activity in situ at study plots in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ). Across our 53 study plots, estimated weighted absorbed dose rates to soil organisms ranged from 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Human actions have altered natural ecosystems worldwide. Among the many pollutants released to the environment, ionizing radiation can cause severe damage at different molecular and functional levels. The accident in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (1986) caused the largest release of ionizing radiation to the environment in human history.
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