[ RadSafe ] Article: Chernobyl ecosystems 'remarkably healthy'

[A Karam]

There are two different effects at work, I think.

Life colonizes new (or newly habitable) areas fairly rapidly.  We see
this on new volcanic islands, in the aftermath of Mt. St. Helens, on
rock newly uncovered by glaciers, and elsewhere. Spores and bacteria
drift in on the wind, seeds wash up from the sea, other seeds are
dropped in the excrement of birds flying overhead, and so forth.  This
has been amply documented in the scientific literature.

Chernobyl and the surrounding area is another phenomenon, I would think
- more comparable to the DMZ between North and South Korea.  The
radiation doses in most of the area around Chernobyl were (and are) not
high enough to be fatal.  Moving people out of the area removes one of
the most important forces in reducing biodiversity - people.  No farming
means that former farm fields begin to revert to grassland and forest,
supporting a higher diversity of plants and the animals that use them
for food or shelter.  Moving people, pets, farm animals, etc. from an
area opens that area up for more diversity because the few animal
species (cow, dog, cat, goat, sheep, etc.) are replaced by a larger
number of wild animals while the small number of plant species (wheat,
corn, grass, etc.) are joined by a larger number of wild plants that
were formerly considered weeds and competitive plants.

So - increased biodiversity is exactly what we should expect when people
leave an area.

Andy

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
Behalf Of Stabin, Michael

>Researchers who have surveyed the land around the old nuclear power
plant in present-day Ukraine say that biodiversity is actually higher
than before the disaster.

Wasn't this also the case around Mt. St. Helen's? Sort of an
environmental adaptive response?


Mike

Michael G. Stabin, PhD, CHP
Assistant Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences Department of
Radiology and Radiological Sciences Vanderbilt University
1161 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37232-2675
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