[ RadSafe ] RE: Article on Chernobyl

Mon Mar 30 15:58:28 CDT 2009

This article inspires me with several whimsical thoughts:

So then, if there really is a human population problem, we need only ensure a significant 
worldwide increase in radiation exposure.  Voila!  Problem solved.

Or, Chernobly: Your Retirement Paradise!!  Scientifically proven to contain FEWER spiders & 
insects.

Or, why do the authors fail to see a connection between insect & spider populations and the 
OTHER Universal Causitive: Global Warming (or cooling, or whatever).  Radiation is always 
the bad guy, it seems. (Student to teacher: Radiation disentigrated my homework.)

Or, I would be more interested in how much money the insects & spiders lost in the recent 
market decline, and whether we can learn something from them about weathering these 
cyclic market inversions.

OooooKay.  Back to work now, and a great week to everybody.  :)

-Gary Isenhower  

On 30 Mar 2009 at 11:58, Strickert, Rick wrote:

From:           	"Strickert, Rick" <rstrickert at signaturescience.com>
To:             	"Conklin, Al  (DOH)" <Al.Conklin at DOH.WA.GOV>,
	"radsafe at radlab.nl" <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Date sent:      	Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:58:00 -0500
Subject:        	[ RadSafe ] RE: Article on Chernobyl

[ Double-click this line for list subscription options ] 

The newspaper is probably referring to "Reduced abundance of insects
and spiders linked to radiation at Chernobyl 20 years after the
accident," Anders Pape Møller and Timothy A. Mousseau, Biology
Letters, published online before print March 18, 2009.

http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2009/03/13/rsbl.2
008.0778.abstract?sid=c079335b-80bd-462b-a80c-120eaac21735 

Abstract: Effects of low-level radiation on abundance of animals are
poorly known. We conducted standardized point counts and line
transects of bumble-bees, butterflies, grasshoppers, dragonflies and
spider webs at forest sites around Chernobyl differing in background
radiation by over four orders of magnitude. Abundance of invertebrates
decreased with increasing radiation, even after controlling for
factors such as soil type, habitat and height of vegetation. These
effects were stronger when comparing plots differing in radiation
within rather than among sites, implying that the ecological effects
of radiation from Chernobyl on animals are greater than previously
assumed. 

In 2007 there were a couple of Biol. Lett. articles by Møller dealing
with Chernobyl:

1. "Species richness and abundance of forest birds in relation to
radiation at Chernobyl," Biol. Lett. 3 (2007), 483-486, A. P. Møller
and T. A. Mousseau

2. "Elevated frequency of abnormalities in barn swallows from
Chernobyl," by Møller, A. P., Mousseau, T. A., de Lope, F. & Saino, N.
in Biol. Lett. 3 (2007), 414-417.

There was a comment, "Is Chernobyl radiation really causing negative
individual and population level effects on barn swallows?" in Biol.
Lett. (2008) 4, 63-64, from J. T. Smith, School of Earth and
Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Building,
Burnaby Road, Portsmouth PO1 3QL, UK

Smith raised the issue that "it is very possible that apparent impacts
on barn swallows are instead due to the abandonment of land by
people."

A response to Smith was made in "Anecdotes and empirical research in
Chernobyl," A.P Møller, T.A Mousseau, F de Lope, and N Saino, Biol.
Lett. February 23, 2008 4:65-66, including this closing comment:

"Why has there been no concerted effort to monitor the long-term
effects of Chernobyl on free-living organisms and humans? The official
reports by IAEA, WHO and UNDP were narrative renditions of parts of
the literature, and these reports, with Smith as co-author, concluded
that Chernobyl was a thriving ecosystem with increasing populations of
animals (Chernobyl Forum 2005; EGE 2005), despite no census data
existing."

Rick Strickert
Austin, TX

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
Behalf Of Conklin, Al (DOH) Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 10:54 AM To:
radsafe at radlab.nl Subject: [ RadSafe ] Article on Chernobyl

I noticed an article in the Tacoma Washington paper earlier this week
describing an article in the journal Biology Letters by Anders Moller
of the University of Paris-Sud and Timothy Mousseau, describing a
dramatically lower number of insects and other invertebrates in the
area around Chernobyl 22 years after the disaster. They also state
that "the numbers of organisms declined with increasing
contamination." This seems contrary to all I've heard and read about
the animal population thriving in those areas. Does anyone know about
this study or these two researchers and whether their results are
credible or not?

Al Conklin
Lead Trainer and Health Physicist
Radiological Emergency Preparedness Section
Office of Radiation Protection
Department of Health
office: 360-236-3261
cell: 360-239-1237

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