title: Effects of radioactive fallout on soil animal populations in the 30 km zone of the Chernobyl atomic power station.
abstract: Studies were carried out during July and September 1986, April 1987, and October 1988. Radioactive fallout after the Chernobyl atomic power station (APS) accident induced catastrophic effects on populations of small pine-litter faunae within the 3 km zone around the station. Effects on soil faunae were not so marked due to shielding by the soil, or on litter faunae at the edge of the 30 km zone due to distance from the source. Thirty-gray doses did not directly affect adult animals in the soil and litter, but impacted their eggs and juveniles. Resident populations recovered slowly during the first year after the accident. Insect migration into the contaminated area was the primary source of soil animal population recovery. After 2-2.5 years, marked differences between populations in the contaminated and control areas were no longer found.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Animal Morphology and Ecology, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Krivolutzkii
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Pokarzhevskii
mesh_terms: D000059:Accidents; D000818:Animals; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000528:radiation effects; D003710:Demography; D007313:Insecta / Q000528:radiation effects*; D009688:Nuclear Reactors; D011847:Radioactive Fallout; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive; D013112:Spiders / Q000528:radiation effects*; D014455:Ukraine
chemical_list: D011847:Radioactive Fallout; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive