It's Complicated - Chronobyl & Fukushima Exclusion Zones Starting To Reveal A "New Ecology"

Wolves lope through the Chornobyl nuclear power plant exclusion zone in the 2019 documentary Our Planet, as naturalist and TV presenter David Attenborough reminds viewers: “Hunters like these would only return if their prey and the surrounding forest is also thriving. “No unprotected human being can stay here for long without lethal risk,” he then explained, “But in driving us out, the radiation has created space for wildlife to return.”

Attenborough is not the first to claim that nature can thrive in nuclear exclusion zones; indeed, the Our Planet script drew from scientific literature. However, there’s no consensus among the scientific community on this question, with researchers continuing to investigate and debate the ongoing effects of radioactive contamination on the environment in Chornobyl, Ukraine, and in Fukushima, Japan — the sites of the world’s two worst nuclear power plant accidents to date. Although individual-level radiation impacts on numerous animal and plant species have been widely observed and acknowledged, some researchers have found evidence of population-level, or even ecosystem-level impacts, while others haven’t. Study design, including target species, sample size, and method of estimating radiation dose, potentially colors these findings. Others argue that the body of research on nuclear exclusion zone organisms and ecosystems point in sum to neither a restoration, nor to a diminishing of the wild — but to “a new ecology.”


Wolves in Chornobyl seen via a camera trap. Scientists have not found Chornobyl wolves’ abundance to be impacted by radiation, perhaps due to their extensive ranges and reduced human pressure. Image courtesy of James Beasley.

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A 2015 census of large mammals at Chornobyl, using data from winter track surveys published by the Belarusian government along with helicopter surveys, found “no evidence of a negative influence of radiation on mammal abundance” compared with other wildlife preserves in Belarus. A 2016 Chornobyl camera trap study also found that, based on animal detections at 94 scent stations over a five-week period, the exclusion zone’s varying radiation levels had “no discernible impact on the current distribution of selected mid- to large-sized carnivores, or of Eurasian boars” within the zone.

A 2020 camera trap study comparing mammal populations inside and outside the Fukushima exclusion zone found “many mid- to large-sized mammals have responded favorably to the removal of humans,” despite the area’s radiological contamination. In Fukushima, “a lot of the species that are most in conflict with people, boar and macaques and [other animals], were most abundant in the exclusion zone,” James Beasley, a professor at the University of Georgia in the U.S. who contributed to all the above studies, told Mongabay. In Chornobyl, animals that have traditionally faced persecution, like wolves and game animals, have benefited from reduced human pressures, he said. However, the presence of large mammals in these zones doesn’t mean that radiation isn’t harmful, Beasley cautioned. Camera traps and tracks in snow, while useful for determining population increases or decreases, can’t provide data on individual animal health. Part of Beasley’s current research focuses on molecular-level radiation effects, as well as accurately estimating individual animals’ exposure, including through the use of dosimeter-GPS collars.


Three wild boars on a road in Fukushima. Boars, a species historically in conflict with humans in Japan, have flourished in the Fukushima exclusion zone. Attempts have been made to cull the population in order to protect private property. Image © T.A. Mousseau, 2015.


Japanese macaques captured by a camera trap in Fukushima in 2016. Species historically in conflict with humans, such as macaques, are among those that can potentially benefit from reduced human pressures in an exclusion zone. Image courtesy of James Beasley.

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https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/long-term-wildlife-impacts-at-chornobyl-fukushima-may-yield-a-new-ecology/