Realism and usefulness of multispecies experiment designs with regard to application in radioecology: A review

Haanes, Hallvard; Hansen, Elisabeth Lindbo; Hevrøy, Tanya Helena; Jensen, Louise Kiel; Gjelsvik, Runhild; Jaworska, A; Bradshaw, Clare

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134485

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 111 publications

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“…a change in predator or prey abundance). For laboratory studies, the consensus view is that more use should be made of mesocosm studies (Haanes et al 2020). For field studies, it is important to ensure that effects are not being masked by immigration of organisms from neighbouring patches and also that other potential stressors and site history are considered.…”

Section: Discussion On Making Experiments Usefulmentioning

confidence: 99%

From tangled banks to toxic bunnies; a reflection on the issues involved in developing an ecosystem approach for environmental radiation protection

Mothersill

Oughton

Schofield

et al. 2020

International Journal of Radiation Biology

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Section: Discussion On Making Experiments Usefulmentioning

confidence: 99%

From tangled banks to toxic bunnies; a reflection on the issues involved in developing an ecosystem approach for environmental radiation protection

Mothersill

Oughton

Schofield

et al. 2020

International Journal of Radiation Biology

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“…Decomposition of OM and litter is an important soil ecosystem function and parameter [6,[8][9][10][11][12], which seems to be affected by changes in soil fauna biodiversity [84,85]. With the effects seen on an ecosystem level in this study, we encourage future studies with an ecosystem approach [18,86]. It may be useful to assess different ecosystem parts separately [18], and we suggest to preferentially address effects in earthworms, enchytraeids, collembolas and mites separately.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 92%

“…With the effects seen on an ecosystem level in this study, we encourage future studies with an ecosystem approach [18,86]. It may be useful to assess different ecosystem parts separately [18], and we suggest to preferentially address effects in earthworms, enchytraeids, collembolas and mites separately. Moreover, in areas like the study area, where soil may be as old as the last ice age, adaptation to radiation may have occurred, and it may be feasible to do irradiation studies of soil fauna extracted both from here and from control sites (where adaptation cannot have occurred since the ice age).…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 93%

“…Assessment of ecosystem responses is however difficult due to their complexity and how functions relate to species richness and interactions among species and food webs [17]. Ecosystem responses can for example not be predicted as the sum of responses in each of the constituent species [18]. Neither ecosystem-level parameters nor indirect effects can be assessed through single species experiments [19,20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reduced soil fauna decomposition in a high background radiation area

Haanes

Gjelsvik

2021

PLoS ONE

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Decomposition of litter and organic matter is a very important soil ecosystem function where soil fauna play an important role. Knowledge of the responses in decomposition and soil fauna to different stressors is therefore crucial. However, the extent to which radioactivity may affect soil fauna is not so well known. There are some results showing effects on soil fauna at uranium mines and near Chernobyl from relatively high levels of anthropogenic radionuclides. We hypothesize that naturally occurring radionuclides affect soil fauna and thus litter decomposition, which will covary with radionuclide levels when accounting for important soil parameters. We have therefore used standardised litterbags with two different mesh sizes filled with birch leaves (Betula pubescens) to assess litter decomposition in an area with enhanced levels of naturally occurring radionuclides in the thorium (232Th) and uranium (238U) decay chains while controlling for variation in important soil parameters like pH, organic matter content, moisture and large grain size. We show that decomposition rate is higher in litterbags with large mesh size compared to litterbags with a fine mesh size that excludes soil fauna. We also find that litter dried at room temperature is decomposed at a faster rate than litter dried in oven (60⁰C). This was surprising given the associated denaturation of proteins and anticipated increased nutritional level but may be explained by the increased stiffness of oven-dried litter. This result is important since different studies often use either oven-dried or room temperature-dried litter. Taking the above into account, we explore statistical models to show large and expected effects of soil parameters but also significant effects on litter decomposition of the naturally occurring radionuclide levels. We use the ERICA tool to estimate total dose rate per coarse litterbag for four different model organisms, and in subsequent different statistical models we identify that the model including the dose rates of a small tube-shape is the best statistical model. In another statistical model including soil parameters and radionuclide distributions, 226Ra (or uranium precursory radionuclides) explain variation in litter decomposition while 228Ra (and precursors) do not. This may hint to chemical toxicity effects of uranium. However, when combining this model with the best model, the resulting simplified model is equal to the tube-shape dose-rate model. There is thus a need for more research on how naturally occurring radionuclides affect soil fauna, but the study at hand show the importance of an ecosystem approach and the ecosystem parameter soil decomposition.

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“…Several publications and international workshops have led to a number of recommendations and consensus statements (Bradshaw et al, 2014;Bréchignac et al, 2016;Mothersill et al, 2018Mothersill et al, , 2019Haanes et a., 2020). In relation to these issues, resolving the controversy with regard to chronic exposure effects on wildlife reported in the Chernobyl and Fukushima exclusion zones is the priority Game Changer (Game Changer C.1).…”

Section: Understand How Radiation Effects Combine In a Broader Ecolog...mentioning

confidence: 99%

An updated strategic research agenda for the integration of radioecology in the european radiation protection research

Arnold¹,

Beresford²,

Berthomieu³

et al. 2021

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

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Realism and usefulness of multispecies experiment designs with regard to application in radioecology: A review

Cited by 10 publications

References 111 publications

From tangled banks to toxic bunnies; a reflection on the issues involved in developing an ecosystem approach for environmental radiation protection

From tangled banks to toxic bunnies; a reflection on the issues involved in developing an ecosystem approach for environmental radiation protection

Reduced soil fauna decomposition in a high background radiation area

An updated strategic research agenda for the integration of radioecology in the european radiation protection research

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