Morphological Characteristics of Japanese Red Pine Needles from the Areas of the Fukushima NPP Accident

• Published in: Contemporary problems of ecology Vol. 14; no. 7; pp. 815 - 821
• Main Authors: Makarenko, E. S., Geras’kin, S. A., Yoschenko, V. I., Lychenkova, M. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-12-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Asymmetry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Contamination; Dosage; Ecology; Evergreen trees; Fluctuating asymmetry; Life Sciences; Morphology; Necrosis; Nuclear accidents; Nuclear accidents & safety; Nuclear power plants; Parameters; Physical characteristics; Pine needles; Pine trees; Radiation; Radiation effects; Radioactive contamination; Sensitivity analysis; Statistical analysis; needles; Fukushima accident; Japanese red pine; chronic irradiation
• ISSN: 1995-4255; 1995-4263
• DOI: 10.1134/S1995425521070131

The morphometric and morphological parameters of needles of Japanese red pine growing in radioactively contaminated as a result of the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant were studied. The pine is a unique widespread object of research with a range of informative and sensitive test systems at different levels of its organization. In this research, we studied the variability in the weight and length of 2-year-old needles, the indices of needle fluctuating asymmetry, and the frequency of necroses and morphoses (three-needle brachyblasts) at four impact sites and one reference site in 2019. The ambient dose rates varied from 3.4 + 0.1 to 6.4 + 0.4 μSv h
–1
in the radioactively contaminated areas (0.25 + 0.05 μSv h
–1
in the control). No statistically significant correlation has been found between the studied needle parameters and the level of radiation exposure. Needles were significantly longer only at one impact site and reached a significant weight at most of the sites exposed to radiation. At the site with the highest dose rate, the fluctuating asymmetry index for needle length significantly exceeded the control level. At all impact sites, the fluctuating asymmetry index for needle weight did not significantly differ from that in the control. The frequency of needles severely affected by necrosis was significantly higher at most of the radioactively contaminated sites. Brachyblasts with three needles were found at all studied sites; their frequency was higher at most of the impact sites than at the control site. Therefore, some values of the morphological and morphometric parameters are statistically significantly higher in Japanese red pine populations growing in radioactively contaminated areas than the control level, even 8 years after the accident.