Monitoring free-living Japanese Bush Warblers (Cettia diphone) in a most highly radiocontaminated area of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

Ken Ishida; Keitaro Tanoi; Tomoko M Nakanishi

doi:10.1093/jrr/rrv087

Monitoring free-living Japanese Bush Warblers (Cettia diphone) in a most highly radiocontaminated area of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

J Radiat Res. 2015 Dec;56 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):i24-28. doi: 10.1093/jrr/rrv087.

Authors

Ken Ishida¹, Keitaro Tanoi², Tomoko M Nakanishi²

Affiliations

¹ Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan ishiken@es.a.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
² Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

Abstract

The Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (F1NPP) accident is an IAEA level 7 event, the same as that of Chernobyl, while the amount of radionuclides released is not comparable. Radioactivity attributed to the F1NPP accident was detected 250 km away from the F1NPP. Although we have not yet systematically studied the effect of radionuclides on the environment and wildlife, one of three Japanese Bush Warblers (Cettia diphone), captured in Akaugi district in August 2011, was observed to have a conspicuous lesion near the cloaca, which is rare in Japan. All of the birds' feathers were strongly contaminated. Further study is needed to determine the significance of this result. We emphasize the importance of continuing assessment of the effects of the F1NPP accident on wildlife.

Keywords: Abukuma highland; Bush Warbler; contingence; ecology; microhabitat radiation heterogeneity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Birds*
Cloaca / pathology
Cloaca / radiation effects
Fukushima Nuclear Accident*
Japan
Male
Radiation Dosage
Radioactive Pollutants / toxicity

Substances

Radioactive Pollutants