Press report:
Worm sex life revolutionised by Chernobyl, study reveals
Kiev, April 23 AFP
Worms that normally reproduce asexually change their ways to help them
better adapt to the radioactive environment
The Chernobyl nuclear disaster has radically changed the lives of worms in
the region, which now enjoy more sex, Ukrainian scientists told AFP today.
Scientists in Sebastopol have compared the way worms reproduce around
Chernobyl, where radioactivity levels in the soil are 100 times higher than
normal, with their cousins elsewhere.
Nearly a quarter of irradiated worms are seeking out partners to reproduce
sexually rather than asexually, against five percent in less-affected areas, the
research showed.
This is because sexual reproduction allows the worms to transmit their most
radioactivity-resistant genes to their offspring, giving them the most chances
of adapting to their new environment.
"They have a better chance of survival," according to biologist Guennady
Polikarpov.
The Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas began its research on two
species of worm, the nais pardalis and nais pseudobtusa, in the mid-1990s
but has since abandoned the program for lack of funds.
The world's worst civilian nuclear disaster occurred on April 26, 1986, when
reactor number four at the Chernobyl plant blew up, spewing out a
radioactive cloud and contaminating much of Europe.
An estimated 15,000 to 30,000 people have since died and more than 2.5
million Ukrainians suffer from health problems related to the Chernobyl blast.
The three other reactors continued in service until one of them was shut
down in 1991 following a fire and another was taken out of service in 1996.
The plant was finally shut down in December 2000 under a $US2.3
($NZ4.14) billion deal with the world's richest nations.
--
Geoff Read <g.read at niwa.co.nz>
http://www.annelida.net/
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