Instructions: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Input: Mysteriously delayed decomposition of trees, fallen leaves and plant matter in the Red Forest around the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster suggest that the microbes responsible for the breakdown of organic matter in the region have suffered some form of radiological damage, according to new research. Pictured is a chart of background radiation levels in the Chernobyl area. (Photo : Oecologia via University of South Carolina ) 
  
 Mysteriously delayed decomposition of trees, fallen leaves and plant matter in the Red Forest around the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster suggest that the microbes responsible for the breakdown of organic matter in the region have suffered some form of radiological damage, according to new research. 
  
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 The study, published in the journal Oecologia by Tim Mousseau, a professor of biology and co-director of the Chernobyl and Fukushima Research Initiatives at the University of South Carolina, and Anders Møller of Université Paris-Sud, indicates that the buildup of dry, loose debris poses a wildfire hazard that could threaten to spread radioactivity from the region. 
  
 "There's been growing concern by many different groups of the potential for catastrophic forest fires to sweep through this part of the world and redistribute the radioactive contamination that is in the trees and the plant biomass," Mousseau said. "That would end up moving radio-cesium and other contaminants via smoke into populated areas. 
  
 When the Chernobyl nuclear facility exploded in the Soviet Union nearly three decades ago, it contaminated a swath of land, and forced an exclusion zone around the fallen reactor. The Red Forest region is the most contaminated part of the Chenobyl nuclear exclusion zone. 
  
 "We were stepping over all these dead trees on the ground that had been killed by the initial blast," Mousseau said in a statement. "Some 15 or 20 years later, these tree trunks were in pretty good shape. If a tree had fallen in my backyard, it would be sawdust in 10 years or so." 
  
 For their experiment, Mousseau and Møller collected various sorts of uncontaminated leaf litter from pine, oak, maple and birch trees and placed the litter in mesh bags around the forest. 
  
 The researchers returned nine months later to assess the decomposition process of the leaves at the different sites, which encompassed a wide range of background radiation doses. 
  
 "A statistical analysis of the weight loss of each leaf litter sample after those nine months showed that higher background radiation was associated with less weight loss," the University of South Carolina reported. "The response was proportional to radiation dose, and in the most contaminated regions, the leaf loss was 40 percent less than in control regions in Ukraine with normal background radiation levels." 
  
 Additionally, the researchers found that the thickness of the forest floor was greater in places with the highest background radiation, corroborating the evidence that natural decay of organic matter is being slowed by radiation. 
  
 The researchers concluded that the bacteria and fungi that decompose plant matter in healthy ecosystems are being hindered by radioactive contamination. 
  
 "It's another facet of the impacts of low-dose-rate radioactive contaminants on the broader ecosystem," Mousseau said. "We've looked at many other components, namely the populations of animals in the area, and this was an opportunity for broadening our range of interests to include the plant and microbial communities." 
  
 The researchers warn that contaminated plant matter could fuel a wildfire, potentially spreading radioactive material further afield. 
  
 "This litter accumulation that we measured, which is likely a direct consequence of reduced microbial decomposing activity, is like kindling," Mousseau said. "It's dry, light and burns quite readily. It adds to the fuel, as well as makes it more likely that catastrophically sized forest fires might start." 
  
 Frequent collaborators, Mousseau and Møller released a trio of Chernobyl studies earlier this year, reporting that the nuclear incident has impaired tree growth and the health of birds in and around the region of the Ukraine where the disaster took place. ||||| Radiological Damage At The Root Of Chernobyl’s Ecosystems 
  
 by editor 
  
 Steven Powell, University of South Carolina 
  
 Radiological damage to microbes near the site of the Chernobyl disaster has slowed the decomposition of fallen leaves and other plant matter in the area, according to a study just published in the journal Oecologia. The resulting buildup of dry, loose detritus is a wildfire hazard that poses the threat of spreading radioactivity from the Chernobyl area. 
  
 Tim Mousseau, a professor of biology and co-director of the Chernobyl and Fukushima Research Initiatives at the University of South Carolina, has done extensive research in the contaminated area surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear facility, which exploded and released large quantities of radioactive compounds in the Ukraine region of the Soviet Union in 1986. He and frequent collaborator Anders Møller of Université Paris-Sud noticed something unusual in the course of their work in the Red Forest, the most contaminated part of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. 
  
 “We were stepping over all these dead trees on the ground that had been killed by the initial blast,” Mousseau said. “Some 15 or 20 years later, these tree trunks were in pretty good shape. If a tree had fallen in my backyard, it would be sawdust in 10 years or so.” 
  
 They set out to assess the rate at which plant material decomposed as a function of background radiation, placing hundreds of samples of uncontaminated leaf litter (pine needles and oak, maple and birch leaves) in mesh bags throughout the area. The locations were chosen to cover a range of radiation doses, and the samples were retrieved after nine months outdoors. 
  
 A statistical analysis of the weight loss of each leaf litter sample after those nine months showed that higher background radiation was associated with less weight loss. The response was proportional to radiation dose, and in the most contaminated regions, the leaf loss was 40 percent less than in control regions in Ukraine with normal background radiation levels. 
  
 They also measured the thickness of the forest floor in the same areas where samples were placed. They found that it was thicker in places with higher background radiation. 
  
 The team concluded that the bacteria and fungi that decompose plant matter in healthy ecosystems are hindered by radioactive contamination. They showed a smaller effect for small invertebrates, such as termites, that also contribute to decomposition of plant biomass. 
  
 According to Mousseau, slower decomposition is likely to indirectly slow plant growth, too, given that the products of decomposition are nutrients for new plants. The team recently reported diminished tree growth near Chernobyl, which he says likely results both from direct radiation effects and indirect effects such as reduced nutrient supply. 
  
 “It’s another facet of the impacts of low-dose-rate radioactive contaminants on the broader ecosystem,” Mousseau says. “We’ve looked at many other components, namely the populations of animals in the area, and this was an opportunity for broadening our range of interests to include the plant and microbial communities.” 
  
 The results also show the potential for further spread of radioactivity. 
  
 “There’s been growing concern by many different groups of the potential for catastrophic forest fires to sweep through this part of the world and redistribute the radioactive contamination that is in the trees and the plant biomass,” Mousseau says. “That would end up moving radio-cesium and other contaminants via smoke into populated areas. 
  
 “This litter accumulation that we measured, which is likely a direct consequence of reduced microbial decomposing activity, is like kindling. It’s dry, light and burns quite readily. It adds to the fuel, as well as makes it more likely that catastrophically sized forest fires might start.” 
  
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Output:
Radiation from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster is messing with local forests' ability to decay—and that's dangerous, both for local ecosystems and perhaps the area's neighbors. Researchers were concerned that decades after the disaster, dead trees in the area still hadn't decomposed, the Smithsonian notes. "We were stepping over all these dead trees on the ground that had been killed by the initial blast," Tim Mousseau says, per Red Orbit. "If a tree had fallen in my backyard, it would be sawdust in 10 years or so.” The experts decided to investigate the effects of radiation on microbes, bugs, and other organisms behind decomposition. They distributed bags of untainted leaves in parts of the forests with varying amounts of radiation; the ones in the worst-affected areas decayed far more slowly. "The gist of our results was that the radiation inhibited microbial decomposition of the leaf litter on the top layer of the soil," says Mousseau. That's a problem for the ecosystem, because it means nutrients aren't making their way back into the soil. And those leaves could provide fuel for a "catastrophic" future forest fire. "This litter accumulation that we measured … is like kindling," Mousseau notes, via Nature World News. Such a fire could spread contamination into "populated areas," Mousseau says.