At
8:34 a.m. on April 28, 1978, 3 of the 6 nuclear reactors at a nuclear power
plant melted down near the Daintree forest. This lead to a spill of radioactive
waste to go into several of bodies of water that went to the Daintree forest.
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| Nuclear Power Plant http://inhabitat.com/japans-nuclear-reactor-springs-a-leak-engineers-try-to-plug-with-sawdust/ |
Since
this water feeds all plants and animals, it had a devastating effect on the
ecosystem. The nuclear spill effected the ecosystem in various ways. Directly,
since animals and plants use this water regularly, they were not killed upon
exposure to the radioactivity, the animals began developing various illnesses
such as blood and bone cancers. Plants stopped growing and died off. Also, animals
who survived the initial impact of the spill, and began reproducing had
offspring with birth defects and gene mutations such as extra limbs or missing
limbs. The nuclear spill led to a great biomagnification. First the small fish will
contain little levels of radioactivity, then bigger fish will eat them and then
birds will eat those fish and will the highest amount of radioactivity which
will lead to reproductive problems. Throughout this process the radioactivity increases.
This can also be applied to plants, first the plants contain small amounts of
radioactivity then the plants are eaten by herbivores who are later eaten by
carnivores like a jaguar. The jaguar would contain the highest amount of
radioactivity.
| Deformed Green Frogs http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2009/08/studies-offer-new-insights-causes-deformed-frogs |
 |
| Biomagnification http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/D/DDTandTrophicLevels.html |
Overall,
most animals will not survive the impact of the nuclear spill except for the
cockroach which can resist any catastrophe. The rainforest ecosystem as we know
it will cease to exist, it will become a barren land ruled by cockroaches and
organisms will similar characteristics.
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| Giant Cockroach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaberidae |
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