Chernobyl Tree Frogs

    Pablo Burraco, Raquel Fernanda Salla, and Germán Orizaola published a study in February of 2023 in Chemosphere that examined the relationship between current radiation levels in Chernobyl and the wildlife living there today, namely tree frogs. As the largest release of radiation to the environment in history, it is still having an impact on its surroundings today. However, the ecosystem is beginning to rebuild and even adapt to the radiation surrounding it. Because the liver deals with detoxification of the body in vertebrates, the study focused on melanomacrophage and hepatocyte morphology within the livers of Eastern tree frogs, which have been used to track long term effects. Because amphibians are particularly susceptible to damage via pollution in their environment, they are the ideal population to study. Chernobyl’s radiation is currently at 10% of what it was initially, so there has been lots of environmental change that can cause alterations within the liver.

Frogs captured were those actively calling. Once in the lab, they were examined morphologically, weighed, and measured. Then, they were euthanized and their liver was removed and placed into 70% ethanol. They looked under the microscope to examine each liver for lesions, levels of melanomacrophage, and other measurements. What they found was that the current levels of radiation in Chernobyl have no effect on the livers of tree frogs studied, which agrees with other studies of animals in the radiation zone that have begun to thrive in their environments. This suggests Chernobyl is continuing to heal itself. I think it is interesting and provides a lot of hope for other human damaged areas that the Earth is able to recover from even the worst nuclear accident of our history. Hopefully, that means with increased efforts we can also help it recover elsewhere and maybe ecosystems can become more resilient than we were afraid of.

Pablo Burraco, Raquel Fernanda Salla, Germán Orizaola, Exposure to ionizing radiation and liver histopathology in the tree frogs of Chornobyl (Ukraine), Chemosphere, Volume 315, 2023, 137753, ISSN 0045-6535, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.137753. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004565352300019X)