Long-term census data reveal abundant wildlife populations at Chernobyl

A double clock or jetlag mechanism is unlikely to be involved in detection of east-west displacements in a long-distance avian migrant. (2009). Visual but not trigeminal mediation of magnetic compass information in a migratory bird. Age-dependent orientation to magnetically-simulated geographic displacements in migratory Australian silvereyes (Zosterops l. lateralis). Wilson J. (2010). Magnetic fi eld changes activate the trigeminal brainstem complex in a migratory bird. * Following the 1986 Chernobyl accident, 116,000 people were permanently evacuated from the 4,200 km 2 Chernobyl exclusion zone [1]. There is continuing scientifi c and public debate surrounding the fate of wildlife that remained in the abandoned area. Several previous studies of the Chernobyl exclusion zone (e.g. [2,3]) indicated major radiation effects and pronounced reductions in wildlife populations at dose rates well below those thought [4,5] to cause signifi cant impacts. In contrast, our long-term empirical data showed no evidence of a negative infl uence of radiation on mammal abundance. Relative abundances of elk, roe deer, red deer and wild boar within the Chernobyl exclusion zone are similar to those in four (uncontaminated) nature reserves in the region and wolf abundance is more than 7 times higher. Additionally, our earlier helicopter survey data show rising trends in elk, roe deer and wild boar abundances from one to ten years post-accident. These results demonstrate for the fi rst time that, regardless of potential radiation effects on individual animals, the Chernobyl exclusion zone supports an abundant mammal community after nearly three decades of chronic radiation exposures. The Belarus sector of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, the Polessye State Radioecological Reserve (PSRER), covers 2,165 km 2 , half of the total area, and has similar radiation levels to the Ukrainian sector (only ca. 1% of the Ukrainian sector is more contaminated). The PSRER provides a unique opportunity to test three key hypotheses concerning the resilience of wildlife to the world's worst nuclear accident. Correspondence Hypothesis 1 proposes that mammal abundances are negatively correlated with levels of radioactive contamination at Chernobyl. This hypothesis was not supported by the data. Mean number of tracks per 10 km (2008–2010) was assessed as a function of radiocaesium contamination density on 35 winter survey routes for elk, wolf (Figure 1), wild boar, roe deer, fox, and a combined category of other predatory and non-predatory mammals (see Figure S1 in the Supplemental Information published with this article online). Note that we used radiocaesium contamination density …