Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Surviving in a poisoned land: Chernobyl's wildlife is different, but
not in the ways you might think
On April 26, 1986, a reactor of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant,
about 130 kilometers north of Kyiv, Ukraine, then the Soviet Union, exploded during
a botched safety test. Steam explosions and a graphite fire released
significant radioactive fallout across Europe, making it the world's worst
nuclear disaster. Researchers have been studying the effects of radiation
exposure on fauna and flora in the 2,600 square-kilometer Chornobyl exclusion
zone, one of the most radioactively contaminated areas on the planet. They
found that pine trees died but birch trees are growing, wild wolves, bears, and
bison are roaming, and abandoned dogs are surviving. Also found are frogs with darkened
color, which might have helped reduce the effects of radiation on them. Have
these plants and creatures managed or evolved to survive in such a highly
contaminated environment with radiation?
Read the article and learn about the changes in the radioactive
environment in Chornobyl.
Note: Chernobyl is the Russian spelling, Chornobyl is the Ukrainian spelling.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260424-chernobyl-wildlife-forty-years-on
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