The impact of nuclear accidents on provisioning ecosystem services

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

Nuclear accidents lead to widespread radioactive contamination of ecosystems and related ecosystem services, with potentially serious consequences for human well-being. Based on an initial exploratory analysis of peer-reviewed articles related to Chernobyl and Fukushima, we identified papers which measured increased Cs-137 levels in provisioning ecosystem services. We used a standardized review-protocol to assess (1) whether peer-reviewed science provides sufficient data density and spatial coverage to provide a coherent and comprehensive map of the global impacts of nuclear accidents on provisioning of ecosystem services; (2) whether such impacts are reported in a standardized and reproducible way; and (3) how different safety thresholds affect the availability of food and fodder for human consumption. Based on an initial analysis of approximately 3000 articles, we identified 121 publications that measured Caesium-137 levels in food, fodder and wood. We found that the comprehensive mapping of the impacts of nuclear accidents on provisioning ecosystem services requires a considerable increase in peer-reviewed assessments, including assessment of existing grey literature. Assessments should follow a coherent protocol, providing consistent information on sampling location and the identification of provisioning ecosystem services. There should be a critical dialogue on maximum allowable radiation levels in provisioning ecosystem services and the impacts of such safe appropriation thresholds on human well-being.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEcological Indicators
Volume41
Pages (from-to)1-14
Number of pages14
ISSN1470-160X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 06.2014

    Research areas

  • Ecosystems Research - Caesium 137, Chernobyl, Ecosystem services, Fukushima, Nuclear accident

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Einsam an der Spitze?
  2. Multisensory Design of Retail Environments
  3. Dating of event-layers (palaeotsunamis) on the Andaman Islands (Bay of Bengal) with Pb-210 and optically stimulated luminescence
  4. Mischverhältnisse
  5. Editorial
  6. Pathische Repräsentation
  7. Unterscheidung ist noch lange keine Diskriminierung
  8. Technology and Organization in Manufacturing
  9. MOOC: Zukunft der Bildung oder Robo-Uni?
  10. The reciprocal iso-inhibition volume concept
  11. Emotional and social development in childhood
  12. Die Regulierung von Carework im Privathaushalt
  13. Ernährung als Alltagsdilemma
  14. The reform of the German Works Constitution Act
  15. Die "wahre" Organisation erkennen
  16. «Mein Kompetenzprofil» - Stärken erkennen und Selbstlernprozesse anstoßen
  17. Environmental heterogeneity drives fine-scale species assembly and functional diversity of annual plants in a semi-arid environment
  18. Biorefineries in Germany
  19. Seeing polycentrically
  20. Zur Funktion normierter Prinzipien im Umweltrecht
  21. Cartel behaviour and efficient sanctioning by criminal sentences
  22. Transformation verstehen lernen:
  23. Metageographies of coastal management
  24. Beurteilereffekte bei der Messung von Unterrichtsqualität
  25. Evaluation und Maintenance von Online-Kursen zum Thema Künstliche Intelligenz
  26. Gender-specific perspectives of mangrove ecosystem services
  27. Institutional Entrepreneurship
  28. Die E-Evidence-Verordnung
  29. Les Anormaux
  30. Who are the workers who never joined a union?
  31. Konstruktives vom Kollegen
  32. Entwicklung einer Fallstudie für die Lehre im IT-gestützten Personalmanagement
  33. Modellierung logistischer Prozesse in der Montage
  34. Das Größenverständnis im Grundschulalter
  35. Environmental risk assessment of anti-cancer drugs and their transformation products
  36. Between Art and Promotion
  37. Emotionale Interfaces in der Fahrzeugsteuerung
  38. Waste prevention behaviour and fast and frugal heuristics
  39. Using self-regulation to overcome the detrimental effects of anger in negotiations
  40. Zweckscheinbarkeit
  41. Green and Sustainable Extraction of Proteins from Agro-industrial Waste