Thursday, April 15, 2021

Chernobyl and Honey Bees

 

Chernobyl was an ecological disaster that happened In Ukraine in 1986. Aside from the ecological issues that the chemical plant explosion caused, genetic issues also arose. The problem was that radiation was all over the environment after the chemical plant explosion. Radiation causes many immediate and long lasting health effects to organisms including; burns, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and damage to blood. Since some of the immediate health effects from radiation has already been discovered, this article goes over a study about long lasting health effects. 


The University of Sterling did an experiment on Honey Bees and high radiation exposure. The study showed that less Queen Bees were produced, meaning there was stress in the colony. Another thing that was noted was that the experimental bumble bee colonies grew at a slower rate. These studies show that future bee populations around the Chernobyl area will begin to decline from the radiation levels. This is a good study to look at for the future so that we know the long lasting effects of a future chemical plant explosion.


2 comments:

  1. Chemical mutations is something to definitely be weary of especially when concerning animal populations. Since the explosion in Chernobyl, Ukraine the town hasn't been inhabited by humans, but the animals that remain there have already experienced declines and harmful mutations. This kind of article and research is important for future references as it is possible that other chemical and radiation accidents concerning organisms could affect the populations.

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  2. This article is so interesting and alarming. Hearing that bee populations are predicted to decline due to the radiation is very discouraging. It seems very difficult for the land and organisms to recover from such a destructive chemical explosion, given that this happened 35 years ago. I wish there were active ways to help improve this environment.

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