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250TABLE 9.20. Change in Anthocyanin Concentrationin Irradiated Plants (Grodzinsky, 2006)Levels of Anthocyaninirradiation (% of control)Corn (Zea mays), Soil 975 Bq/kg 119sproutsMung (Phaseolus Chronic irradiation, 157aureus)0.5 GyArabidopsis Chronic irradiation, 173thaliana 0.5 Gy94 plant species correlate with the level ofgamma-irradiation (Kordyum and Sydorenko,1997).10. In natural populations of Crepis tectorumfrom the 30-km zone, the sprouting of seedsdid not exceed 50%. The number of a growingroot cells with chromosome disorders (inversions,translocations, change in number ofchromosomes, etc.) is significantly higher thanin controls (Shevchenko et al., 1995).11. The number of sterile pollen grains inviolets (Viola matutina) correlates with the levelof radioactive soil contamination (Popova et al.,1991).12. More than a 10-fold lower frequencyof extrachromosomal homologousrecombinations are found in native Arabidopsisthaliana plants from radioactively contaminatedterritories (Kovalchuk et al., 2004).13. Unique polynoteratogenic complexes areseen in the 30-km Chernobyl zone: a highpercentage of pollen grains and spores withdifferent genetic anomalies (underdevelopedpollen grains/spores, dwarf and ultradwarfforms, and polynomorphs that diverge fromthe norm in several morphological characters).This indicates that the Chernobyl catastrophecaused a “geobotanical catastrophe”(Levkovskaya, 2005).9.4. Other Changes in Plants andMushrooms in the ContaminatedTerritories1. Coniferous forests have suffered moststrongly from irradiation (so-called “Red forest”)as compared with mixed and deciduousforests (Kryshev and Ryazantsev, 2000).2. Some metabolic processes in plantsare disturbed in the contaminated territories(Sorochin’sky, 1998). Table 9.20 lists examplesof such impairments, expressed in changes ofanthocyanin (purple color) concentration.3. Radiosensitivity of some plant species increasesunder chronic low-rate irradiation inthe 30-km zone owing to a gradual loss of theability to repair DNA (Grodzinsky, 1999).4. Some phenolic compounds with alteredqualitative structure accumulated in all winterwheat, winter rye, and corn cultivars in the30-km zone during the 6 years after the catastrophe(Fedenko and Struzhko, 1996).5. The radial growth in trees in the heavilycontaminated territories was slowed (Kozubovand Taskaev, 1994; Shmatov et al., 2000).6. A new form of stem rust fungus (Pucciniagraminis) is present in the Chernobyl zone, andits virulence is greater than in the control form(Dmitryev et al., 2006).It is clear that plants and mushrooms becamenatural accumulators of Chernobyl radionuclides.The levels of such uptake and the transitionof radionuclides from soil to plants andmushrooms are specific for each radionuclideand vary from species to species, by season, byyear, and by landscape, etc.Chernobyl irradiation has caused manystructural anomalies and tumorlike changes inmany plant species and has led to genetic disorders,sometimes continuing for many years. Itappears that the Chernobyl irradiation awakenedgenes that had been quiescent for longevolutionary periods.Twenty-three years after the catastrophe it isstill too early to know if the whole spectrum ofplant radiogenic changes has been discerned.We are far from knowing all of the consequencesfor flora resulting from the catastrophe.ReferencesAbramov, V. I., Dyneva, S. V., Rubanovich, A. V. &Shevchenko, V. A. (1995). Genetic consequences of