Birds in the exclusion zone around Chernobyl (the site of the infamous nuclear catastrophe) are adapting to and may even be benefiting from long-term exposure to radiation, ecologists have discovered. A recent study published in Functional Ecology out is the first evidence that wild animals possess the ability to adapt to ionizing radiation, and the first to show that birds, which produce most pheomelanin, a pigment in feathers, have greater problems coping with radiation exposure.

Laboratory experiments have shown that humans and other animals can adapt to radiation, and that prolonged exposure to low doses of radiation increases organisms’ resistance to larger, subsequent doses. This adaptation, however, has never been identified outside the laboratory in wild populations until now. As the research began, scientists began to measure levels of glutathione (a key antioxidant), oxidative stress and DNA damage in the blood samples, and levels of melanin pigments in the feathers. The results revealed that with increasing background radiation, the birds’ body condition and glutathione levels increased and oxidative stress and DNA damage decreased. They also demonstrated that birds which produce larger amounts of pheomelanin and lower amounts of eumelanin, pay a stark cost in body condition, decreased glutathione, and increased oxidative stress and DNA damage.

Experts have been weighing on in these findings. Dr Ismael Galván of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) noted, “The findings are important because they tell us more about the different species’ ability to adapt to environmental challenges such as Chernobyl and Fukushima.”

These birds and other animals and plants have done the unthinkable by adapting to large amounts of radiation. These unprecedented findings have now given scientists the opportunity to learn more about adaptation to radiation not only in Chernobyl but locations throughout the world.