All Outputs (66)

Current ionising radiation doses in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone do not directly impact on soil biological activity (2022)
Journal Article
Beresford, N., Wood, M., Gashchak, S., & Barnett, C. (2022). Current ionising radiation doses in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone do not directly impact on soil biological activity. PLoS ONE, 17(2), e0263600. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263600

Although soil organisms are essential for ecosystem function, the impacts of radiation on soil biological activity at highly contaminated sites has been relatively poorly studied. In April-May 2016, we conducted the first largescale deployment of bai... Read More about Current ionising radiation doses in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone do not directly impact on soil biological activity.

Best practices for predictions of radionuclide activity concentrations and total absorbed dose rates to freshwater organisms exposed to uranium mining/milling (2022)
Journal Article

Predictions of radionuclide dose rates to freshwater organisms can be used to evaluate the radiological environmental impacts of releases from uranium mining and milling projects. These predictions help inform decisions on the implementation of mitig... Read More about Best practices for predictions of radionuclide activity concentrations and total absorbed dose rates to freshwater organisms exposed to uranium mining/milling.

Meta-analysis enables prediction of the maximum permissible arsenic concentration in Asian paddy soil (2021)
Journal Article

It is now well-established that not just drinking water, but irrigation water contaminated with arsenic (As) is an important source of human As exposure through water-soil-rice transfer. While drinking water As has a permissible, or guideline value,... Read More about Meta-analysis enables prediction of the maximum permissible arsenic concentration in Asian paddy soil.

Fungal microbiomes are determined by host phylogeny and exhibit widespread associations with the bacterial microbiome (2021)
Journal Article

Interactions between hosts and their resident microbial communities are a fundamental component of fitness for both agents. Though recent research has highlighted the importance of interactions between animals and their bacterial communities, compara... Read More about Fungal microbiomes are determined by host phylogeny and exhibit widespread associations with the bacterial microbiome.

Wildfires in the Chornobyl exclusion zone—Risks and consequences (2021)
Journal Article

Following the 1986 Chornobyl accident an area of approaching 5000 km2 surrounding the nuclear plant was abandoned, creating the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ). Whilst this area likely contains the most radioactive terrestrial ecosystem on earth, over... Read More about Wildfires in the Chornobyl exclusion zone—Risks and consequences.

Impacts of radiation exposure on the bacterial and fungal microbiome of small mammals in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (2021)
Journal Article

Environmental impacts of the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident are much debated, but the effects of radiation on host microbiomes have received little attention to date.

We present the first analysis of small mammal gut microbiome from t... Read More about Impacts of radiation exposure on the bacterial and fungal microbiome of small mammals in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Fungal microbiomes are determined by host phylogeny and exhibit widespread associations with the bacterial microbiome (2021)
Other

Interactions between hosts and their resident microbial communities are a fundamental component of fitness for both agents. Though recent research has highlighted the importance of interactions between animals and their bacterial communities, compara... Read More about Fungal microbiomes are determined by host phylogeny and exhibit widespread associations with the bacterial microbiome.

Inter-varietal variation in elemental uptake by rice and its implications for public health : a case study of Dareta village, Zamfara State, Nigeria (2021)
Thesis

Nigeria is ranked first among the countries affected by Pb poisoning since it was reported in 2010 in
Zamfara State. The Pb poisoning epidemic in Zamfara received global attention from various
stakeholders and dietary Pb intake through rice which w... Read More about Inter-varietal variation in elemental uptake by rice and its implications for public health : a case study of Dareta village, Zamfara State, Nigeria.

Element and radionuclide concentrations in soils and wildlife from forests in north-eastern England with a focus on species representative of the ICRP's Reference Animals and Plants (2020)
Journal Article
Barnett, C., Beresford, N., Wood, M., Izquierdo, M., Walker, L., & Fawkes, R. (2020). Element and radionuclide concentrations in soils and wildlife from forests in north-eastern England with a focus on species representative of the ICRP's Reference Animals and Plants. Earth System Science Data, 12(4), 3021-3038. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3021-2020

There are international recommendations that the environment (i.e. wildlife) is assessed for the potential impact of releases of ionizing radiation. The transfer of radionuclides to wildlife from media (e.g. soil, water) is usually described using th... Read More about Element and radionuclide concentrations in soils and wildlife from forests in north-eastern England with a focus on species representative of the ICRP's Reference Animals and Plants.

Modelling the effects of ionising radiation on a vole population from the Chernobyl Red forest in an ecological context (2020)
Journal Article
Vives i Batlle, J., Sazykina, T., Kryshev, A., Wood, M., Smith, K., Copplestone, D., & Biermans, G. (2020). Modelling the effects of ionising radiation on a vole population from the Chernobyl Red forest in an ecological context. Ecological Modelling, 438, 109306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2020.109306

A novel mathematical model was developed to study the historical effects of ionising radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl accident on a vole population. The model uses an ecosystem approach combining radiation damages and repair, life history and ecolog... Read More about Modelling the effects of ionising radiation on a vole population from the Chernobyl Red forest in an ecological context.

From tangled banks to toxic bunnies; a reflection on the issues involved in developing an ecosystem approach for environmental radiation protection (2020)
Journal Article

The objective of this paper is to present the results of discussions at a workshop held as part of the International Congress of Radiation Research (Environmental Health stream) in Manchester UK, 2019. The main objective of the workshop was to provid... Read More about From tangled banks to toxic bunnies; a reflection on the issues involved in developing an ecosystem approach for environmental radiation protection.

Integration of ecosystem science into radioecology : a consensus perspective (2020)
Journal Article

In the Fall of 2016 a workshop was held which brought together over 50 scientists from the ecological and radiological fields to discuss feasibility and challenges of reintegrating ecosystem science into radioecology. There is a growing desire to inc... Read More about Integration of ecosystem science into radioecology : a consensus perspective.

SRP workshop on ‘communication of radiation risk in the modern world’ (2020)
Journal Article
Bryant, P., Yoshida, H., Butlin, M., Wood, M., Raines, K., Bannon, A., & Hunak, S. (2020). SRP workshop on ‘communication of radiation risk in the modern world’. Journal of Radiological Protection, 40(1), 319-326. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6498/ab4773

Communicating radiation risk is an important part of radiation protection. However, achieving effective risk communication is challenging given the negative public perception of radiation and conflicting views presented by both the media and social m... Read More about SRP workshop on ‘communication of radiation risk in the modern world’.

Environmental transfer of radionuclides in a Sub-Saharan Africa setting (2020)
Thesis

In the last two decades, interest in the development of nuclear programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has increased. To ensure that the potential human and environmental ionising radiation exposure from nuclear developments within SSA can be adequat... Read More about Environmental transfer of radionuclides in a Sub-Saharan Africa setting.

Towards solving a scientific controversy – The effects of ionising radiation on the environment (2019)
Journal Article

Measuring the radiation exposure of Norwegian reindeer under field conditions (2019)
Journal Article

Models and approaches have been developed to predict radiation exposure of wildlife under field conditions. However, there have been few attempts to directly measure radiation exposure of wildlife in the field and confirm the doses predicted by model... Read More about Measuring the radiation exposure of Norwegian reindeer under field conditions.

Automatic acoustic detection of birds through deep learning : the first bird audio detection challenge (2018)
Journal Article

Assessing the presence and abundance of birds is important for monitoring specific species as well as overall ecosystem health. Many birds are most readily detected by their sounds, and thus passive acoustic monitoring is highly appropriate. Yet acou... Read More about Automatic acoustic detection of birds through deep learning : the first bird audio detection challenge.

Radiocaesium transfer and radiation exposure of frogs in Fukushima Prefecture (2018)
Journal Article
Tagami, K., Uchida, S., Wood, M., & Beresford, N. (2018). Radiocaesium transfer and radiation exposure of frogs in Fukushima Prefecture. Scientific reports, 8(1), 10662. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28866-0

The International Commission on Radiological Protection has proposed an environmental assessment framework. This includes ionising radiation exposure assessment for different frog life-stages, but radiocaesium transfer parameters are unavailable. We... Read More about Radiocaesium transfer and radiation exposure of frogs in Fukushima Prefecture.

Genetic variability and ontogeny predict microbiome structure in a disease-challenged montane amphibian (2018)
Journal Article

Amphibian populations worldwide are at risk of extinction from infectious diseases, including chytridiomycosis caused by the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Amphibian cutaneous microbiomes interact with Bd and can confer protecti... Read More about Genetic variability and ontogeny predict microbiome structure in a disease-challenged montane amphibian.

Radionuclide transfer to wildlife at a 'reference site' in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and resultant radiation exposures (2018)
Journal Article
Beresford, N., Barnett, C., Gashchak, S., Maksimenko, A., Guliaichenko, E., Wood, M., & Izquierdo, M. (2020). Radionuclide transfer to wildlife at a 'reference site' in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and resultant radiation exposures. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 211, 105661. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2018.02.007

This study addresses a significant data deficiency in the developing environmental protection framework of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, namely a lack of radionuclide transfer data for some of the Reference Animals and Plan... Read More about Radionuclide transfer to wildlife at a 'reference site' in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and resultant radiation exposures.