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Study into effects of chronic exposure to radiation in food: Chernobyl wolves as an example

text ionisingECOVIEWS: Chernobyl wolves reveal radiation’s impact, Tuscaloosa News, December 5, 2014 How do scientists determine what the long-term impacts would be to humans living in a radiation-contaminated environment? An ecological study of wolves in the Ukraine may provide the answer……….

Not being shot, trapped or indirectly affected by humans is the upside for wolves occupying the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. But what complications might they face from chronic exposure to radiation in the food they eat and where they sleep? Doctors Jim Beasley and Stacey Lance, research ecologists from the University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Lab, say that whereas radiation concentrations immediately after the accident were known to be “extremely high and dangerous, we don’t know what levels of radiation the wolves or other animals are exposed to now.” The researchers and their students are trained to study how human activities and disturbances affect the ecology of wildlife populations.
The CEZ wolves can serve as a proxy for determining the risks to human safety in low-level radiation areas. Among the questions being asked is whether cancer rates in the wolves are above normal levels, which can be determined indirectly with genetic studies. The researchers will also estimate wolf population sizes and distribution patterns across a gradient from high to low levels of contamination to look for demographic impacts. The findings can be applied to how humans might be affected……….http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20141205/NEWS/141209768/1291?p=1&tc=pg

December 8, 2014 - Posted by | radiation, Ukraine

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