title: Decline in intertidal biota after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear disaster: field observations.
abstract: In 2011, 2012, and 2013, in the intertidal zones of eastern Japan, we investigated the ecological effects of the severe accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant that accompanied the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The number of intertidal species decreased significantly with decreasing distance from the power plant, and no rock shell (Thais clavigera) specimens were collected near the plant, from Hirono to Futaba Beach (a distance of approximately 30 km) in 2012. The collection of rock shell specimens at many other sites hit by the tsunami suggests that the absence of rock shells around the plant in 2012 might have been caused by the nuclear accident in 2011. Quantitative surveys in 2013 showed that the number of species and population densities in the intertidal zones were much lower at sites near, or within several kilometers south of, the plant than at other sites and lower than in 1995, especially in the case of Arthropoda. There is no clear explanation for these findings, but it is evident that the intertidal biota around the power plant has been affected since the nuclear accident.
authors: Center for Environmental Risk Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2, Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan.
authors: Toshihiro
authors: T
authors: Horiguchi
authors: Research Center for Radiation Emergency Medicine, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Chiba, Chiba 263-8555, Japan.
authors: Hiroshi
authors: H
authors: Yoshii
authors: Nuclear Power Safety Division, Fukushima Prefectural Government, Fukushima, Fukushima 960-8670, Japan.
authors: Satoshi
authors: S
authors: Mizuno
authors: Center for Environmental Risk Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2, Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan.
authors: Hiroaki
authors: H
authors: Shiraishi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D058448:Biota; D055866:Earthquakes; D062406:Fukushima Nuclear Accident; D049851:Gastropoda / Q000254:growth & development*; D007564:Japan; D011156:Population Density; D057192:Tsunamis