[NukeNet] Chernobyl: Schizophrenic Headline- Sloppy "Journalism" Or Attempt To Deceive Public?

[Bill Smirnow]

>But Timothy A. Mousseau, a biologist at the University of South Carolina
and co-director of the university's >Chernobyl research initiative, said
there had not been systematic studies of wildlife there. "When we sat down
to >review the literature, we realized that most of these claims were just
that - claims," he said.




   http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/science/28obradi.html
 Did Chernobyl Leave an Eden for Wildlife?

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By HENRY FOUNTAIN
Published: August 28, 2007
In recent years, there have been reports that the area around the Chernobyl
nuclear plant had become something of a wildlife playground. The reports
suggested that animals like wild boar, wolves and moose had flourished in
the 40-mile-diameter "exclusion zone," which was contaminated by low-level
radiation from the disaster in Ukraine 21 years ago.

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But Timothy A. Mousseau, a biologist at the University of South Carolina and
co-director of the university's Chernobyl research initiative, said there
had not been systematic studies of wildlife there. "When we sat down to
review the literature, we realized that most of these claims were just
that - claims," he said.

So Dr. Mousseau and his co-director, Anders P. Moller of Pierre and Marie
Curie University in Paris, decided to systematically study the animals they
know best: birds. Wearing a protective suit, Dr. Moller conducted simple
bird counts throughout the zone. Radiation levels were measured at each
site.

Close to 1,600 birds were counted, representing 57 species. But as the
researchers report in Biology Letters, both the number of species and
abundance of individual birds declined with increasing radiation levels. For
example, the most contaminated sites had about two-thirds fewer birds than
those with normal levels of radiation.

The researchers suggest that several factors may be at work. The radiation
may directly affect fertility and survival rates, birds may avoid
contaminated areas because they are not prime habitats, or there may not be
enough food. Because most of the contamination is in the soil, Dr. Mousseau
said, "species that are feeding on invertebrates that live in top layers of
soil are most likely to be ones that are missing or in lower numbers."

Whatever the reasons, the study shows that for birds, at least, Chernobyl is
far from a paradise; the contamination appears to have had an effect. "This
was a big surprise to us," Dr. Mousseau said. "We had no idea of the
 impact."

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