Chernobyl's Radiation Is Darkening Its Frogs, And It's a Good Thing Too

A new study shows how evolution is taking place in Chernobyl's radiation-blasted environment.

The study found that the population of eastern tree frog with dark skin was more likely to survive the Chernobyl nuclear accident than the population with light skin.

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 26 April 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine 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.

Frogs' skulls are more weird than you think.

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.

Researchers found that 44 percent of the male frog's habitats 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 frog's skin has high levels of melanin.

"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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The original article was published by Live Science. The original article can be found here.