Wildlife is abundant in Chernobyl, study reveals

Date:  January 31, 2019

Source:  University of Georgia

A scavenger study that used fish carcasses as bait provides additional evidence that wildlife is abundant in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, University of Georgia researchers said.

A one-month camera study prompted the sighting of 10 mammal and five bird species, according to James Beasley, associate professor at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory and the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.

"These animals were photographed while scavenging fish carcasses placed on the shoreline of rivers and canals in the CEZ," he said. "We've seen evidence of a diversity of wildlife in the CEZ through our previous research, but this is the first time that we've seen white-tailed eagles, American mink and river otter on our cameras."

Beasley is referring to a 2015 study that provided the first evidence that wildlife -- including gray wolves -- exists in abundance in this ecological zone of about 1,000 square miles that was abandoned by humans after the 1986 nuclear accident.

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Are Chernobyl wolves spreading mutant genes?

Wolves from the Chernobyl site have been roaming freely beyond the nuclear disaster zone's border, increasing fears that they will spread mutant genes.

The site became off limits to humans after the nuclear power plant disaster on 26 April 1986, due to concerns about the level of radiation, although it has opened to tourism in recent years.

But it is thought that the lack of human interference has allowed animals to thrive in the 18.6-mile-wide exclusion zone.

Wolves began to take over the site in 2016, when their population was thought to be around 300.

Scientists have followed the wolves as the population has grown to a number now estimated to be up to seven times greater than that of surrounding reserves.

Fourteen grey wolves (13 adults and one male juvenile) were tracked using GPS collars to see how far they strayed from the exclusion zone.

Study lead author and wildlife ecologist Michael Byrne told Live Science: "No wolves there were glowing - they all have four legs, two eyes and one tail."

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Wildlife thriving around Chernobyl nuclear plant despite radiation

High numbers of elk, deer, boar and wolves show long-term effect of world’s worst nuclear accident is less damaging than everyday human activity, say scientists

Adam Vaughan

@adamvaughan_uk

Monday 5 October 2015 17.00 BSTLast modified on Tuesday 6 October 201510.52 BST

Wildlife is abundant around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear plant, despite the presence of radiation released by the world’s most catastrophic nuclear explosion nearly three decades ago, researchers have found.

The number of elk, deer and wild boar within the Belarusian half of the Chernobyl exclusion zone today are around the same as those in four nearby uncontaminated nature reserves.

Wolves, which are commonly hunted in the region because of their impact on livestock, were seven times as abundant with the zone, according to a study published on Monday.

The findings run counter to previous hypothesises that chronic long-term exposure to radiation would hit animal populations.

“What we do, our everyday habitation of an area – agriculture, forestry – they’ve damaged wildlife more than the world’s worst nuclear accident,” said Prof Jim Smith, professor of environmental science, University of Portsmouth, and one of the paper’s authors.

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Brown bears return to Chernobyl after a century away

28 November 2014 Last updated at 01:23

By Mark Kinver

Environment reporter, BBC News

Scientists have captured what is believed to be the first photographic evidence of brown bears within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ).

Camera traps, used by a project assessing radioactive exposure impacts on wildlife, recorded the images.

Brown bears had not been seen in the area for more than a century, although there had been signs of their presence.

The exclusion zone was set up after an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine in April 1986.

"Our Ukrainian colleague, Sergey Gashchak, had several of his camera traps running in one of our central areas over the past few months in order to start to get a feel for what (wildlife) was there," explained project leader Mike Wood from the University of Salford.

He told BBC News that data retrieved from one of the cameras in October contained images of a brown bear.

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'Giant mutant catfish' near Chernobyl

9 July 2014, 12:42

A Russian fishing blog has sent anglers scrambling to catch giant mutant catfish said to be growing near the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

The blog even included a picture of one catfish which locals are calling Borka, and which they claim is over two metres long.

Access is limited to the area because of the risk of radiation poisoning and all fishing for food purposes in local waters has stopped.

But now there is renewed interest from sporting fishermen keen to land the catch of their life after it was alleged in blog that giant fish were being caught in the Pripyat River.

The river is polluted with radionuclides, but anglers say there are giant fish to be had in parts of the river near but outside the exclusion zone.

Local fisherman Kondrat Yudin, 38, said: "I suppose radiation could play a role but I reckon radiation is more likely to give them extra eyeballs and two heads rather than simply making them enormous in size.

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INTERVIEW: Jeremy Wade on his memories of catching ‘River Monsters’

Jeremy Wade, star of River Monsters on Animal Planet, has a few fisherman tales to tell. But unlike some yarns about the big ones that got away, Wade’s stories are true.

The former science teacher’s search for the elusive monsters of freshwater rivers has been an enormous success for Animal Planet. The premiere of season five reached a record audience, and the only obstacle that may stop Wade from more adventures is whether there’s enough monsters to discover.

“It was actually a very memorable season to make,” Wade said recently during a phone interview. “You know, our subject matter is finite. So I think at the beginning of the year, we’re scratching our heads. You know, what are we going to film. I think as we go further it makes us think more laterally.”

Along those lines, Wade and his crew head to Chernobyl, the infamous radioactive site, to fish in a cooling pond — not exactly paradise. “If you would have asked me a few years ago if I was going to be fishing anywhere like that, it wouldn’t have been on my list,” he said. “We also looked into the Loch Ness monster. You know, that’s right on my doorstep. I sort of tend to go to rather far-flung places, and here’s the best-known monster myth possibly in the world, and it’s right on my doorstep. Well, maybe it’s time we had a look at that. And that’s a two-hour special. That’s sort of the finale of the season.”

Other season-five highlights include Colombia, Bolivia and southern South America, a region that Wade identifies as his “favorite stomping ground.”

The fisherman doesn’t just look for unusual species; he also tries to unearth new details on “monsters” that have already been featured on the show. His upcoming Colombia episode looks at sting-rays and their behavior.

“I think the pressure is more in the individual programs because if we don’t actually get a fish at the end of it, then we don’t really have a film,” he said. “People are fascinated with predators. I think that’s part of the success of the program. We’re hard-wired to be interested in predators.”

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Chernobyl and Fukushima – No effect on birds?

Wildlife thriving after nuclear disaster
April 2012. Radiation from the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents may not have been as harmful to wildlife as previously thought.

New research by Professor Jim Smith, of the University of Portsmouth, and colleagues from the University of the West of England has cast doubt on earlier studies on the impact on birds of the catastrophic nuclear accident at Chernobyl in April 1986. Their findings, published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, are likely to also apply to wildlife at Fukushima in Japan following its nuclear disaster in 2011 and represent an important step forward in clarifying the debate on the biological effects of radiation.

Professor Smith, an environmental physicist at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, said: "I wasn't really surprised by these findings - there have been many high profile findings on the radiation damage to wildlife at Chernobyl but it's very difficult to see significant damage and we are not convinced by some of the claims. We can't rule out some effect on wildlife of the radiation, but wildlife populations in the exclusion zone around Chernobyl have recovered and are actually doing well and even better than before because the human population has been removed."

Effect on birds
Until now, scientists had thought radiation had a dramatic effect on bird populations following the Chernobyl disaster because it had caused damage to birds' antioxidant defence mechanisms. But Professor Smith and colleagues have, for the first time, quantified this effect. Their study modelled the production of free radicals from radiation, concluding that the birds' antioxidant mechanisms could easily cope with radiation at density levels similar to those seen at Chernobyl and Fukushima.

Fukushima
Professor Smith said: "We showed that changes in anti-oxidant levels in birds in Chernobyl could not be explained by direct radiation damage. We would expect other wildlife to be similarly resistant to oxidative stress from radiation at these levels. Similarly, radiation levels at Fukushima would not be expected to cause oxidative stress to wildlife. We believe that it is likely that apparent damage to bird populations at Chernobyl is caused by differences in habitat, diet or ecosystem structure rather than radiation.

"It is well-known that immediately after the Chernobyl accident, extremely high radiation levels did damage organisms. But now, radiation levels at Chernobyl are hundreds of times lower and, while some studies have apparently seen long-term effects on animals, others have found no effect.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/chernobyl-fukushima.html

Chernobyl zone shows decline in biodiversity

By Victoria Gill Science reporter, BBC News

The largest wildlife census of its kind conducted in Chernobyl has revealed that mammals are declining in the exclusion zone surrounding the nuclear power plant.

The study aimed to establish the most reliable way to measure the impact on wildlife of contamination in the zone.

It was based on almost four years of counting and studying animals there.

The scientists say that birds provide the best "quantitative measure" of these impacts.

They report their findings in the journal Ecological Indicators.

The research team say that their census of species in the zone - which was carried out for more than three years - provides more evidence that contamination has a "significant impact" on biodiversity.

Professor Timothy Mousseau from the University of South Carolina, US, and Dr Anders Moller from the University of Paris-Sud, France, worked together on the project.

From 2006-2009, they counted and examined wildlife including insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

Their previously published work revealed some of the negative impacts on birds and on insects of the low-level radiation that still contaminated the exclusion zone surrounding the power plant.

The new data on mammals and reptiles shows what Professor Moussaeu described as a "strong signal" of reduced biodiversity in these groups too.

The research team compared the abundance of species in the exclusion zone with similar types of habitats in the area, which were not contaminated.

"The truth is that these radiation contamination effects were so large as to be overwhelming," Professor Mousseau told BBC News.

During their census work, he and Dr Moller have also examined the effects of radiation contamination on the animals. They say that these impacts are particularly obvious in birds.

In their studies on barn swallows, the team observed birds with tumours on their feet, necks and around their eyes.

"We think they may be more susceptible, after their long migrations, to additional environmental stress," explained Professor Mousseau.

Poison or haven?

Scientists in the Ukraine criticised the conclusions. Dr Sergii Gashchak, a researcher at the Chornobyl Center in Ukraine was not available for comment on this latest paper.

But he spoke to BBC News last year and dismissed the team's previous findings on insects and birds. He said that he drew "opposite conclusions".

"Wildlife really thrives in Chernobyl area - due to the low level of [human] influence," Dr Gashchak told BBC News.

"All life appeared and developed under the influence of radiation, so mechanisms of resistance and recovery evolved to survive in those conditions," he continued.

But Professor Mousseau said the evidence of an increase in biodiversity in the region is "purely anecdotal".

"This is the first paper that provides quantitative, rigorous data that the mammals really are significantly affected by contamination," he told BBC News.

"That said - it's not a bad idea to set this place up as a wildlife haven - it's a natural laboratory where we can study the long-term consequences of this kind of an accident."

Dr Mousseau also criticised a recently made documentary film called Chernobyl, A Natural History, which has been promoted by a French production company as showing how nature has "recolonised" the exclusion zone in the absence of man.

Professor Mousseau said: "If society is ever to learn more about the long term environmental consequences of large scale accidents - and Chernobyl is just one of several - it is important that we all take our responsibilities seriously."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10819027