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| Radiation, Mutation
and Fitness: Lessons from the Wilds of Chernobyl |
Dr. Timothy Mousseau
Professor, University of South Carolina
The disaster at Chernobyl in 1986 released more than 10 million times
the amount of contaminants released by the accident at Three Mile
Island and contaminated more than 200,000 km2, an area about 50%
the size of Japan. The Chernobyl disaster offers an opportunity to
examine the effects of radioactive contaminants that could provide
valuable insights to the possible consequences of nuclear accidents
or terrorism from dirty bombs, in addition to fundamental insights
to the evolutionary balance between mutation and selection.
Professor Mousseau will present the results of recent studies of
barn swallows (Hirundo rustica), great tits (Parus major) and fruit
flies (Drosophila melanogaster) inhabiting the contaminated zones
of Chernobyl. Major findings include significant variability among
species in sensitivity to radionuclides and a general pattern of
genetic damage in a wide variety of species, even under conditions
of very low contamination. Of particular interest are discovered
relationships between background radiation levels, antioxidant levels
in the blood (i.e. vitamins A, E and carotenoids), mutation rates
observed in sperm, and effects on reproduction and survival (i.e.
fitness). |
