Bright Birds' Nuclear Pain
By Sarah Gillham
Brightly coloured birds were worse affected by the nuclear explosion at Chernobyl whilst their less garish counterparts are still flying high.Ecologists have discovered that the reason some birds are more adversely affected by high levels of radiation is to do with their varying antioxidant levels.
The research, led by Dr Andres Möller of the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie and Professor Timothy Mousseau of the University of South Carolina involved examining 1,570 birds from 57 different species living in the forests near the Chernobyl disaster site.
They found that certain groups of birds declined more than others. Species with red, yellow and orange plumage, those that laid the largest eggs and those that migrated furthest were most affected.
But why should this be? Well it seems that some birds, such as those listed above, use up more antioxidants than others. Antioxidants inhibit oxidation, helping to prevent the damaging effects of free radicals produced by radiation.
Certain activities, such as laying large eggs, migrating extra long distances and producing colourful plumage containing pigments called carotenoids, use up larger amounts of antioxidants.
The scientists have hypothesised that this leaves less antioxidants behind to take care of the dangerous free radicals such as those left behind at Chernobyl.
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Image: Ali Taylor
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