title: Are Organisms Adapting to Ionizing Radiation at Chernobyl?
abstract: Numerous organisms have shown an ability to survive and reproduce under low-dose ionizing radiation arising from natural background radiation or from nuclear accidents. In a literature review, we found a total of 17 supposed cases of adaptation, mostly based on common garden experiments with organisms only deriving from typically two or three sampling locations. We only found one experimental study showing evidence of improved resistance to radiation. Finally, we examined studies for the presence of hormesis (i.e., superior fitness at low levels of radiation compared with controls and high levels of radiation), but found no evidence to support its existence. We conclude that rigorous experiments based on extensive sampling from multiple sites are required.
authors: Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, University Paris-Sud, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400 Orsay, France; Laboratoire d'Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, CNRS UMR 8079, Université Paris-Sud, Bâtiment 362, F-91405 Orsay Cedex, France. Electronic address: anders.moller@u-psud.fr.
authors: Anders Pape
authors: AP
authors: Møller
authors: Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
authors: Timothy Alexander
authors: TA
authors: Mousseau
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological; D047852:Chernobyl Nuclear Accident; D059165:Hormesis; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology; D011836:Radiation Tolerance; D011839:Radiation, Ionizing