Nuclear Spill at Freshwater Lake!!!!!!

Today a man-made disaster occured! The local nuclear power plant spilled into the nearby lake, sending radioactive platonium into it! The catastrophe looked something like this:

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/R-9eYvvfhf4/maxresdefault.jpg

Abiotic Features

The radiation did not affect most of the abiotic features of the lake biome, such as rain and cloud cover, but it may have made the water a little warmer and more murky or perhaps even glowing. This affected the camoflage and survival of organisms living in the lake, but they are dead anyways.. 

Biotic Features

The deadliest aspect of the nuclear spill was its effect on the biotic features of the lake biome. The radiation killed nearly all of the organisms in the water, and here's how.

Producers

The phytoplankton, or main producers in the lake biome, died out because the radiation impaired their photosynthesis, mutated their DNA, and impaired their growth rates. 

Aquatic plants either died or have abnormalities such as withered crowns, and underdeveloped leaves, that will cause them to die anyways. Plants that were affected by the radiation were not be able to have their seeds germinated. A plant species exposed to radiation can die out rather quickly.

 

From: http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/4467 

Consumers

Zooplankton, the primary consumers, ate affected phytoplankton and thus became physiologically impaired as well. Because the radiation killed off a lot of phytoplankton, zooplankton died as well because of the lack of resources.

 

From: http://www.gso.uri.edu/maritimes/Back_Issues/98Spring/Text/Ozone.html

The small fish and invertebrates that ate zooplankton became affected by the radioisotopes and they ended up deformed and dying as well. 

Medium fish that came and ate these then became radioactive and passed on the radioactivity to the large fish that ate them.

Fecal matter of all organisms contained some radioactivity that fell to the surface of the lake soil for bottom dwellers such as crab and shrimp to eat and then become radioactive.

 

From: http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/how-is-fukushimas-fallout-affecting-marine-life

 

 

 

 

http://fukushima-diary.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/20111221140232.jpeg

Decomposers

The bacteria, fungi, and microorganisms that fed on the remains of all aquatic organisms became radioactive very quickly.

All organisms that were affected by radiation either died or contain abnormalities that are inhibiting their lifestyle and will force them to die soon. Some organisms were also affected by an alkali metal known as cesium that is released in some nuclear spills. Cesium is an etremely dangerous element and actually exploded as soon as it hit the water due to its reaction with water. Cesium caused some organisms to die almost immediately.

 

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesium

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However, one species of organism has been able to survive this disaster. The water strider was able to use their ability to dive into the soil and become dormant to outlast the radiation. After a time, radioisotopes become so diluted in water that the radiation won't affect the organisms anymore. The water strider can be dorminant way past this time is reached, so that when it comes out of the soil and back unto the surface of the water, it can eat species that were able to survive the radiation without being affected by it.

Hooray water strider.

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