Forests Around Chernobyl Aren't Decaying Properly

An anonymous reader writes "Smithsonian Magazine has an article about one of the non-obvious effects of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown: dead organisms are not decomposing correctly. 'According to a new study (abstract) published in Oecologia, decomposers—organisms such as microbes, fungi and some types of insects that drive the process of decay—have also suffered from the contamination. These creatures are responsible for an essential component of any ecosystem: recycling organic matter back into the soil. Issues with such a basic-level process, the authors of the study think, could have compounding effects for the entire ecosystem.' The scientists took bags of fallen leaves to various areas around Chernobyl and found that locations with more radiation caused the leaves to retain more than half of their original weight after almost a year. They're now beginning to worry that almost three decades of dead brush buildup is contributing to the area's fire risk, and a large fire could distribute radioactive material beyond Chernobyl's exclusion zone."

Zombie trees?

[K. S. Kyosuke]

SF authors were right!

Business opportunity

[The Grim Reefer]

Sounds like the perfect place to sell burial plots to the rich. Their corpses can remain intact for thousands of years. And the fear of radiation poisoning will keep grave robbers away. As a bonus, it will save more land from being developed into wasted space. And this land that can't be used by the living will become useful as well. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Re:Business opportunity

[mikeabbott420]

It is a trade off, lead lined suits to visit the grave but the flowers you leave last so much longer!

Re:Business opportunity

[relisher]

Sure, let's put dead bodies into highly radioactive zones and not expect people to have a zombie scare.

Re: Controlled fires

[FatdogHaiku]

I think they meant the smoke alone from the fire would cause radiation to spread.

Oh come on, get a half-life already!

Re:Fire = Good

[Applehu Akbar]

"we're all inundated by radiation from nuclear fusion? How can we stop this atrocity! "

Move to Seattle.

Re:Fire = Good

[quantaman]

The fire "risk" is natures form of healing. By re-distributing the radiation the area can heal.

We humans take issue with the idea of the radiation spreading outside "the zone" but nature doesn't.

But in what patterns does it get redistributed? Does it get diluted down to homeopathic levels thus curing everyone in the Ukraine of cancer, or does it get redistributed in concentrated form, creating pockets of high radiation outside the exclusion zone causing Ukrainians to get superpowers and kick the Russians out of Crimea.

Re:Solution...

[jafac]

hey, you, paid Russian web-propaganda dude! You're on the wrong thread. This is the thread for the paid pro-Nuclear web propaganda team. The Ukraine thread is about a page and a half down.