Mutant Butterflies Linked to Japan's Nuclear Disaster

[qualia]

One legacy of the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year has already become apparent through a study of butterflies in Japan: Their rate of genetic mutations and deformities has increased with succeeding generations.

"Nature in the Fukushima area has been damaged," said Joji Otaki, a professor at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, who is the senior author of the new study.

The abnormalities, which the researchers traced to the radiation released from the nuclear power plant, include infertility, deformed wings, dented eyes, aberrant spot patterns, malformed antennas and legs, and the inability to fight their way out of their cocoons. The butterflies from the sites with the most radiation in the environment have the most physical abnormalities, the researchers found.

"Insects have been considered to be highly resistant to radiation, but this butterfly was not," said Otaki.

The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, cut off power to the Fukushima Daiichi plant, leading to meltdowns that released radionuclides including iodine-131 and cesium-134/137.The researchers combined laboratory and field studies to show the radionuclides caused the deformities and genetic defects. Butterflies netted six months after the release had more than twice as many abnormalities as insects plucked two months following the release, the team found. The rise in mutations means radiation from the accident is still affecting the butterflies' development, even though levels in the environment have declined, the study concluded. [see Photos of Fukushima's Deformed Butterflies]

"One very important implication of this study is that it demonstrates that harmful mutations can be passed from one generation to the next, and that these might actually accumulate and increase over time, leading to larger effects with each generation," said Timothy Mousseau, a professor of biology at the University of South Carolina who studies the impacts of radiation from Fukushima and from the 1986 Chernobyl explosion in Ukraine.

Mousseau, who was not involved in this study, added, "It is quite concerning to see accumulated effects occurring over relatively short time periods, less than a year, in Fukushima butterflies."

Radiated butterflies

At the time of the disaster in March 2011, pale grass blue butterflies (Zizeeria maha) were overwintering as larvae. Two months later, Otaki and his colleagues collected adult butterflies from 10 locations. They observed changes in the butterflies' eyes, wing shapes and color patterns.

The researchers had been studying the pale grass blue butterfly for more than 10 years. The insects live in the same places as people – gardens and public parks – which make them good environmental indicators, and they are sensitive to environmental changes, said Otaki.

The team also bred the collected butterflies at the university's labs in Okinawa, 1,100 miles (1,750 kilometers) from Fukushima. They noticed more-severe abnormalities in successive generations, such as forked antennas and asymmetrical wings.

Last September the team collected more adults from seven of the 10 sites and found the butterfly population included more than twice as many members with abnormalities as in May: 28.1 percent versus 12.4 percent. The September butterflies were likely fourth- or fifth-generation descendants from the larvae present in May, the authors reported.

Deformities inherited

It is likely that the first generation of butterflies suffered both physical damage from radiation sickness and genetic damage from the massive exposure to radioactive isotopes after the disaster, the researchers reported. This generation passed on their genetic mutations to their offspring, who then acquired their own genetic defects from eating radioactive leaves and from exposure to low levels of radiation remaining in the environment. The cumulative effect caused successive generations to develop more serious physical abnormalities. "Note that every generation was continuously exposed," said Otaki.

Mousseau said, "This study adds to the growing evidence that low-dose radiation can lead to significant increases in mutations and deformities in wild animal populations."

The findings are consistent with previous studies in Japan and at Chernobyl, Mousseau added. "The ecological studies that we have conducted found that the entire butterfly community in Fukushima was depressed in radioactive areas, as were the birds, and that the patterns seen in Fukushima were similar to what has been observed in Chernobyl. If the plants and animals are mutating and dying, this should be cause for significant public concern."

The results were published Aug. 9 in the journal Scientific Reports.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 5:20 p.m. to correct the spelling of Timothy Mousseau's name.

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dented eyes

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Butterflies from Fukushima, Iwaki and Takahagi showed wing size and shape deformations, including, respectively, a right hindwing that was much smaller than the left hindwing, folded wings, and rumpled wings (right image).

 

 

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Here, representative abnormalities found in the Fukushima butterflies that ingested contaminated leaves. From top left to right bottom: antenna malformation, right palpus abnormality (a palpus is one of the appendages in front of the insect's head), bent wings, additional bent wings, aberrant wing color patterns, an ectopic black spot beside the discal spot.

 

 

 

 

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A butterfly from Takahagi, shown in left panel, has a malformation of the left antenna, which is short and forked (arrowheads). Another Takahagi individual has a deformation of the left hindleg femur. (Insets show pictures taken from different angles.)

 

 

 

 

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Representative abnormalities seen in the butterflies exposed externally to radiation from the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.

 

 

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Severe genetic mutations were found in pale grass blue butterflies (

 

 

Zizeeria maha

 

) found near the Fukushima disaster, with so-called eclosion failure (left) in which the butterfly can't fight its way out of its cocoon, and bent wings (left). See more

 

 

deformed butterfly images

 

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http://www.livescien...a-disaster.html

[waterboy 2.0]

The ongoing inheritance of mutation is real worry.... particularly the range of induced mutation - that is some very damaged DNA,

[whitewind]

Not just the butterflies. Insects are good studies because they have such short lifespans compared to plants and animals.

http://enenews.com/j...damaged-feelers

Prof. Akimoto [of Hokkaido University] collected 200 samples from Japanese elms to find about 10% of them deformed.

Their bodies and the cast-off skins showed their legs had necrosis,or feelers are damaged, and also some of them had 2 abdomens.

The deformation rate is normally less than 1%. Prof. Akimoto states something must have caused genetic disorder. It can be radiation from Fukushima.

He adds, “The insects might also have short lives or abnormal behavior besides deformation.”

 

And the caesium rates in Mushrooms is quite astonishing. Could get some funky fungus out of Japan over the next few years!

http://enenews.com/h...higi-prefecture

Highest level of cesium detected in wild mushroom

Tochigi Prefecture announced on August 6 that 31,000 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium was detected in wild “Lactarius volemus” (tawny milkcap mushroom) harvested in Nikko City, far exceeding the national safety standard (100 Bq/kg).

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, it is the highest level exceeding the amount detected in “Lactarius volemus” harvested in Tanakura-machi in Fukushima Prefecture in September last year, which measured 28,000 Bq/kg. The Tochigi prefectural government says, “We believe the cesium absorption was largely from the soil, but radioactive materials from the surrounding trees may also have affected it.”

[whitewind]

We have to remember this stuff because I see so many claims that "Chernobyl never killed anyone" (usually when compared to the lives lost in coal-mining for electricity generation). This kind of reasoning completely ignores the long term damage caused by toxins in the environment, chronic DNA damage caused by numerous man-made chemicals and materials. It's the same kind of reasoning that says fluoride in your water is okay because no-one drops down dead, yet few studies have been taken to determine long-term effects. When added up, all these toxins must have an affect, which appears to be shown by the huge number of cancers which are cropping up in human populations. Better safe than sorry, IMHO.

[qualia]

And the caesium rates in Mushrooms is quite astonishing. Could get some funky fungus out of Japan over the next few years!

NO! not sure where my shiitake comes from, sure hope it's oz .....

[Halcyon Daze]

I'm wondering about the dry seaweed for sushi rolls, but I think that the animals at the higher end of the food chain are the most dangerous.

My Korean friends just told me there are large zones around Fukishima where fishing is now banned, but I have not checked this fact.

[CβL]

In case you didn't know, Japanese authorities increased the 'safe radiation limit' by 2.5x for radiation workers. I think they also did that for food (but not necessarily 2.5x).