Not out of the woods yet (Image: Tohoku Color Agency/Getty)
JAPAN’S birds can breathe a little easier: the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident might not have a lasting impact on breeding patterns.
A 2011 study of birds near Chernobyl in Ukraine found that by harmful reactive oxygen species, which may have been . But according to calculations by at the University of Portsmouth, UK, the radiation at Chernobyl couldn’t have produced enough reactive oxygen species to explain the observed harm (). The same is true for Fukushima, he says.
“The fall in barn swallows in Chernobyl could be due to a decline in farming, rather than radiation released”
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The biggest effects at Chernobyl are seen in , which rely on farming activities for their food. Smith thinks the evacuation of the area may instead explain the swallows’ plight.
That doesn’t convince at the University of Paris-South, France, an author on the 2011 study. He points to that suggest declines in farming affect barn swallows but .
A final answer may come next year from the French , which has launched .
But the birds aren’t home free: radiation harms wildlife in other ways, such as damaging DNA.
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