A new study shows how evolution is taking place in Chernobyl's radiation-blasted environment. The study found that the eastern tree frog with darker skin was more likely to survive the Chernobyl nuclear accident than the lighter skinned one.
Researchers wrote about their research in a post on The Conversation. One of the most interesting research topics in Chernobyl is trying to find out if some species are adapting to live with radiation. Radiation may be a strong factor in favor of organisms with mechanisms that increase their survival in areas contaminated with radioactive substances.
On April 26, 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukranian exploded, releasing radioactive materials across an 18-mile (30 kilometer) circle.
According to the study's lead author, the Chernobyl accident released 100 times more energy than the bombs of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
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Following the disaster, officials established an exclusion zone of 2,700 square miles. The abandoned area has become a refuge for animals. Burraco and his team wanted to understand how evolution happened.
After studying more than 200 male frogs whose habitats were spread across 12 different breeding ponds, researchers found that on average, 44% were darker than those outside of Chernobyl. The most plausible explanation for why the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone Frogs are changing color is that the high radiation levels at the time of the accident made them dark-skinned.
Why does dark skin look different? The high levels of melanin in the skin of the frog made them impervious to radiation.
"Melanin protects against radiation because it can mechanically avoid the production of free radicals caused by the direct impact of the radioactive particles on cells." "Radiation can cause damage to vital structures in the body, such as the cell's outer shell, the nucleus, and the brain."
The lighter frog's cells were killed off at higher rates than their darker brethren because they were bombarded with higher levels of damaging radiation. The study found that the dark frog had a higher chance of surviving.
The post-Chernobyl dark frog has excess melanin. They found that having darker skin didn't hurt the health of the amphibians and that it helped ionize radiation, which prevents ionized molecule from getting into cells and damaging them.
In bird species, the production of melanin can be very expensive. In the frog, the main melanin pigment is called eumelanin, and it doesn't cost a lot to produce.
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