TY - JOUR
T1 - Addressing ecological effects of radiation on populations and ecosystems to improve protection of the environment against radiation
T2 - Agreed statements from a Consensus Symposium
AU - Bréchignac, François
AU - Oughton, Deborah
AU - Mays, Claire
AU - Barnthouse, Lawrence
AU - Beasley, James C.
AU - Bonisoli-Alquati, Andrea
AU - Bradshaw, Clare
AU - Brown, Justin
AU - Dray, Stéphane
AU - Geras'kin, Stanislav
AU - Glenn, Travis
AU - Higley, Kathy
AU - Ishida, Ken
AU - Kapustka, Lawrence
AU - Kautsky, Ulrik
AU - Kuhne, Wendy
AU - Lynch, Michael
AU - Mappes, Tapio
AU - Mihok, Steve
AU - Møller, Anders P.
AU - Mothersill, Carmel
AU - Mousseau, Timothy A.
AU - Otaki, Joji
AU - Pryakhin, Evgeny
AU - Rhodes, Olin E.
AU - Salbu, Brit
AU - Strand, Per
AU - Tsukada, Hirofumi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Authors.
PY - 2016/7/1
Y1 - 2016/7/1
N2 - This paper reports the output of a consensus symposium organized by the International Union of Radioecology in November 2015. The symposium gathered an academically diverse group of 30 scientists to consider the still debated ecological impact of radiation on populations and ecosystems. Stimulated by the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters' accidental contamination of the environment, there is increasing interest in developing environmental radiation protection frameworks. Scientific research conducted in a variety of laboratory and field settings has improved our knowledge of the effects of ionizing radiation on the environment. However, the results from such studies sometimes appear contradictory and there is disagreement about the implications for risk assessment. The Symposium discussions therefore focused on issues that might lead to different interpretations of the results, such as laboratory versus field approaches, organism versus population and ecosystemic inference strategies, dose estimation approaches and their significance under chronic exposure conditions. The participating scientists, from across the spectrum of disciplines and research areas, extending also beyond the traditional radioecology community, successfully developed a constructive spirit directed at understanding discrepancies. From the discussions, the group has derived seven consensus statements related to environmental protection against radiation, which are supplemented with some recommendations. Each of these statements is contextualized and discussed in view of contributing to the orientation and integration of future research, the results of which should yield better consensus on the ecological impact of radiation and consolidate suitable approaches for efficient radiological protection of the environment.
AB - This paper reports the output of a consensus symposium organized by the International Union of Radioecology in November 2015. The symposium gathered an academically diverse group of 30 scientists to consider the still debated ecological impact of radiation on populations and ecosystems. Stimulated by the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters' accidental contamination of the environment, there is increasing interest in developing environmental radiation protection frameworks. Scientific research conducted in a variety of laboratory and field settings has improved our knowledge of the effects of ionizing radiation on the environment. However, the results from such studies sometimes appear contradictory and there is disagreement about the implications for risk assessment. The Symposium discussions therefore focused on issues that might lead to different interpretations of the results, such as laboratory versus field approaches, organism versus population and ecosystemic inference strategies, dose estimation approaches and their significance under chronic exposure conditions. The participating scientists, from across the spectrum of disciplines and research areas, extending also beyond the traditional radioecology community, successfully developed a constructive spirit directed at understanding discrepancies. From the discussions, the group has derived seven consensus statements related to environmental protection against radiation, which are supplemented with some recommendations. Each of these statements is contextualized and discussed in view of contributing to the orientation and integration of future research, the results of which should yield better consensus on the ecological impact of radiation and consolidate suitable approaches for efficient radiological protection of the environment.
KW - Consensus development
KW - Ecological risk assessment
KW - Ecosystems
KW - Environmental protection
KW - Populations
KW - Radiation effects
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.03.021
DO - 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.03.021
M3 - Review article
C2 - 27058410
AN - SCOPUS:84962173272
SN - 0265-931X
VL - 158-159
SP - 21
EP - 29
JO - Journal of Environmental Radioactivity
JF - Journal of Environmental Radioactivity
ER -