Researchers at the University of Stirling have found that animals in lakes close to the Chernobyl nuclear reactor have more genetic mutations than those in lakes farther away – raising concerns about the effects of radiation on the New understanding of the impact of wild species.
DNA analysis of freshwater crustaceans known as water fleas revealed greater genetic diversity in lake populations that experienced the highest radiation dose rates after the 1986 accident.
Dr Stuart Auld, who led the study, said radiation was the main cause of these genetic mutations.
Crustaceans
Dr Alder, from the Stirling School of Natural Sciences, said: “Chernobyl is a natural experiment in evolution because the rate of genetic mutation is higher and all evolutionary change is driven by mutation.
“Usually you have to wait a few generations to see the effect of the environment on the mutation, and most mutant animals are quite damaged so they don’t live long.
“By sequencing non-coding DNA — the genetic code that doesn’t actually affect an organism’s form or function — we were able to find these mutations.”
As part of her Ph.D., Dr. Jessica Goodman used kayaks and nets to collect crustaceans from lakes at various distances from Chernobyl. She flew the samples back to the lab in Stirling, where Dr Auld’s team isolated and analysed the DNA.
acute
Dr Alder continued: “In a world affected by climate change, we really need to understand nuclear energy as an option and its potential impact on natural populations.
“We know exposure to acute radiation is scary, but low levels are actually nowhere near as bad as we thought. A lot of the animals around Chernobyl are actually doing just fine because humans are gone – it turns out, we Worse than radiation.”
This research was assisted by June Brand of the University of Stirling and Gennady Laptev of the Ukrainian Institute of Hydrometeorology in Kiev. It is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.
paper Radiation-mediated supply of genetic variation outweighs the effects of selection and drift in Chernobyl Daphnia populations published in journal of evolutionary biology.
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Brendan Montague is the editor of The Ecologist.This article is based on a press release University of Stirling.
