page_title: Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
section_title: Flora and fauna
hierarchical_section_title: Chernobyl Exclusion Zone / Radioactive contamination / Flora and fauna
context_page_description: The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation is an officially designated exclusion zone around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster. It is also commonly known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the 30 Kilometre Zone, or simply The Zone.
  Established by the Soviet Armed Forces soon after the 1986 disaster, it initially existed as an area of 30 km radius from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant designated for evacuation and placed under military control. Its borders have since been altered to cover a larger area of Ukraine. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone borders a separately administered area, the Polesie State Radioecological Reserve, to the north in Belarus. The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is managed by an agency of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, while the power plant and its sarcophagus are administered separately.
  The Exclusion Zone covers an area of approximately 2,600 km² in Ukraine immediately surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant where radioactive contamination from nuclear fallout is highest and public access and inhabitation are restricted.
context_section_description: There has been an ongoing scientific debate about the extent to which flora and fauna of the zone were affected by the radioactive contamination that followed the accident. As noted by Baker and Wickliffe, one of many issues is differentiating between negative effects of Chernobyl radiation, and effects of changes in farming activities resulting from human evacuation.
  "Twenty-five years after the Chernobyl meltdown, the scientific community has not yet been able to provide a clear understanding of the spectrum of ecological effects created by that radiological disaster."
  Near the facility, a dense cloud of radioactive dust killed off a large area of Scots pine trees; the rusty orange color of the dead trees led to the nickname "The Red Forest" (Рудий ліс). The Red Forest was among the world's most radioactive places; to reduce the hazard, the Red Forest was bulldozed and the highly irradiated wood was buried, though the soil continues to emit significant radiation.
  Other species in the same area, such as birch trees, survived, indicating that plant species may vary considerably in their sensitivity to radiation.
  Cases of mutant deformity in animals of the zone include partial albinism and other external malformations in swallows and insect mutations. A study of several hundred birds belonging to 48 different species also demonstrated that birds inhabiting highly radioactively contaminated areas had smaller brains compared to birds from clean areas.
  A reduction in the density and the abundance of animals in highly radioactively contaminated areas has been reported for several taxa, including birds,
  insects and spiders, and mammals. 
  In birds, which are an efficient bioindicator, a negative correlation has been reported between background radiation and bird species richness. 
  Scientists such as Anders Pape Møller (University of Paris-Sud) and Timothy Mousseau (University of South Carolina) report that birds and smaller animals such as voles may be particularly affected by radioactivity. However, some of their research has been criticized as flawed, and Møller has faced charges of misconduct.
  More recently the populations of large mammals have increased due to significant reduction of human interference. 
  The populations of traditional Polesian animals (such as wolves, badger, wild boar, roe deer, white-tailed eagle, black stork, western marsh harrier, short-eared owl, red deer, moose, great egret, whooper swan, least weasel, common kestrel, and beaver) have multiplied enormously and begun expanding outside the zone.
  The zone is considered as a classic example of an involuntary park.
  The return of wolves and other animals to the area is being studied by scientists such as Marina Shkvyria (Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences), Sergey Gaschak (Chernobyl Centre in Ukraine), and Jim Beasley (University of Georgia). Camera traps have been installed and are used to record the presence of species. Studies of wolves, which are concentrated in higher-radiation areas near the center of the exclusion zone, may enable researchers to better assess relationships between radiation levels, animal health, and population dynamics.
  The area also houses herds of wisent (European bison, native to the area) and Przewalski's horses (foreign to the area, as tarpan was the native wild horse) released there after the accident. Some accounts refer to the reappearance of extremely rare native lynx, and there are videos of brown bears and their cubs, an animal not seen in the area for more than a century. Special game warden units are organized to protect and control them. No scientific study has been conducted on the population dynamics of these species.
  The rivers and lakes of the zone pose a significant threat of spreading polluted silt during spring floods. They are systematically secured by dikes.
caption: Horses in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
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