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      The biological impacts of the Fukushima nuclear accident on the pale grass blue butterfly

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          Abstract

          The collapse of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant caused a massive release of radioactive materials to the environment. A prompt and reliable system for evaluating the biological impacts of this accident on animals has not been available. Here we show that the accident caused physiological and genetic damage to the pale grass blue Zizeeria maha, a common lycaenid butterfly in Japan. We collected the first-voltine adults in the Fukushima area in May 2011, some of which showed relatively mild abnormalities. The F 1 offspring from the first-voltine females showed more severe abnormalities, which were inherited by the F 2 generation. Adult butterflies collected in September 2011 showed more severe abnormalities than those collected in May. Similar abnormalities were experimentally reproduced in individuals from a non-contaminated area by external and internal low-dose exposures. We conclude that artificial radionuclides from the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant caused physiological and genetic damage to this species.

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          Most cited references39

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          Cancer risks attributable to low doses of ionizing radiation: assessing what we really know.

          High doses of ionizing radiation clearly produce deleterious consequences in humans, including, but not exclusively, cancer induction. At very low radiation doses the situation is much less clear, but the risks of low-dose radiation are of societal importance in relation to issues as varied as screening tests for cancer, the future of nuclear power, occupational radiation exposure, frequent-flyer risks, manned space exploration, and radiological terrorism. We review the difficulties involved in quantifying the risks of low-dose radiation and address two specific questions. First, what is the lowest dose of x- or gamma-radiation for which good evidence exists of increased cancer risks in humans? The epidemiological data suggest that it is approximately 10-50 mSv for an acute exposure and approximately 50-100 mSv for a protracted exposure. Second, what is the most appropriate way to extrapolate such cancer risk estimates to still lower doses? Given that it is supported by experimentally grounded, quantifiable, biophysical arguments, a linear extrapolation of cancer risks from intermediate to very low doses currently appears to be the most appropriate methodology. This linearity assumption is not necessarily the most conservative approach, and it is likely that it will result in an underestimate of some radiation-induced cancer risks and an overestimate of others.
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            Preliminary Estimation of Release Amounts of131I and137Cs Accidentally Discharged from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Atmosphere

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              Development, plasticity and evolution of butterfly eyespot patterns.

              The developmental and genetic bases for the formation, plasticity and diversity of eyespot patterns in butterflies are examined. Eyespot pattern mutants, regulatory gene expression, and transplants of the eyespot developmental organizer demonstrate that eyespot position, number, size and colour are determined progressively in a developmental pathway largely uncoupled from those regulating other wing-pattern elements and body structures. Species comparisons and selection experiments suggest that the evolution of eyespot patterns can occur rapidly through modulation of different stages of this pathway, and requires only single, or very few, changes in regulatory genes.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Sci Rep
                Sci Rep
                Scientific Reports
                Nature Publishing Group
                2045-2322
                09 August 2012
                2012
                : 2
                : 570
                Affiliations
                [1 ]simpleThe BCPH Unit of Molecular Physiology, Department of Chemistry , Biology and Marine Science, Faculty of Science
                [2 ]simpleInstrumental Research Center, University of the Ryukyus , Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
                [3 ]These authors contributed equally.
                Author notes
                Article
                srep00570
                10.1038/srep00570
                3414864
                22880161
                86f53b27-c7cc-4cab-a4c5-d81375ddbf02
                Copyright © 2012, Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

                This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareALike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

                History
                : 06 June 2012
                : 24 July 2012
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