| Popis: |
The development features of morphological anomalies of the sunbleak (Leucaspius delineates Heckel) skeleton in water bodies, characterized by background (neighbourhood of Kyiv City) and high (Chornobyl exclusion zone) levels of radionuclide contamination were studied. The impact of radionuclide contamination on the appearance of morphological skeletal anomalies of fish was established. The level of radiation background of the natural environment is constantly increasing due to the continuous flow of radioactive substances into the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The causes of the significant deterioration of the existing state are the emergencies at the nuclear fuel cycle enterprises, related to the radionuclide emissions, among which the Chornobyl NPP accident is the most massive catastrophe in the history of nuclear energy, both in terms of the amount of radioactive substances that have been released into the environment and the area of territories that have been contaminated. Despite the fact that part of the radionuclides has decayed more than three decades after the accident, other long-lived substances remain sources of additional ionizing radiation in the environment. This necessitates the study and evaluation of all processes related to radioactive contamination. One of the important tasks of radioecology is to study the characteristics of the receipt, migration and accumulation of radioactive substances by components of aquatic biogeocenosa and their impact on the biota. The radionuclides released into aquatic ecosystems migrate and are most effectively accumulated by the upper trophic levels to which the fish belongs, serving as an important object of radioecological monitoring. The relevance of this study is to detect the influence of radionuclide contamination on the appearance of morphological skeletal anomalies in the fish species typical for the reservoirs of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, which is a representative exemplar of fresh aquatic ecosystems, taking into account the peculiarities of its way of existence. The novelty of the work is determined by the fact that for the mentioned reservoirs the relevant study was conducted for the first time. |
