title: Ionizing radiation from Chernobyl affects development of wild carrot plants.
abstract: Radioactivity released from disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima is a global hazard and a threat to exposed biota. To minimize the deleterious effects of stressors organisms adopt various strategies. Plants, for example, may delay germination or stay dormant during stressful periods. However, an intense stress may halt germination or heavily affect various developmental stages and select for life history changes. Here, we test for the consequence of exposure to ionizing radiation on plant development. We conducted a common garden experiment in an uncontaminated greenhouse using 660 seeds originating from 33 wild carrots (Daucus carota) collected near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. These maternal plants had been exposed to radiation levels that varied by three orders of magnitude. We found strong negative effects of elevated radiation on the timing and rates of seed germination. In addition, later stages of development and the timing of emergence of consecutive leaves were delayed by exposure to radiation. We hypothesize that low quality of resources stored in seeds, damaged DNA, or both, delayed development and halted germination of seeds from plants exposed to elevated levels of ionizing radiation. We propose that high levels of spatial heterogeneity in background radiation may hamper adaptive life history responses.
authors.affiliation: CIBIO/InBIO, Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, Associated Laboratory of the University of Porto, Vairão, PT-4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.|Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Zbyszek
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Boratyński
authors.affiliation: CIBIO/InBIO, Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, Associated Laboratory of the University of Porto, Vairão, PT-4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Javi Miranda
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Arias
authors.affiliation: CIBIO/InBIO, Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, Associated Laboratory of the University of Porto, Vairão, PT-4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
authors.forename: Tapio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mappes
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.|Department of Environmental Biology, Chubu University, Kasugai, Aichi 487-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Timothy A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Mousseau
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, CNRS UMR 8079, Université Paris-Sud, Bâtiment 362, F-91405 Orsay Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Anders P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Møller
authors.affiliation: CIBIO/InBIO, Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources, Associated Laboratory of the University of Porto, Vairão, PT-4485-661 Vairão, Portugal.
authors.forename: Antonio Jesús Muñoz
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Pajares
authors.affiliation: Chair of Ecology and Biogeography, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Lwowska 1, PL-87-100 Toruń, Poland.
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piwczyński
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Science, P.O. Box 35, FI-40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland.|Institute of Biology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, UA-03022 Kyiv, Ukraine.
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tukalenko
mesh_terms: D047852:Chernobyl Nuclear Accident; D018552:Daucus carota / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D018525:Germination / Q000528:radiation effects*; D011839:Radiation, Ionizing; D012639:Seeds / Q000528:radiation effects*