Any abnormality induced by radiation (animals themself or their progeny) was observed (?) in the various animal survivors if any - of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after atomic bombing. Some study or papers exist for that or not.
There was no effort to study animals exposed during the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. The study on humans did not begin until 1950. Most of the instrumentation and techniques used after Chernobyl were developed after the Japanese studies began. Indeed, a large development effort was necessary for developing information and techniques to evaluate dose to humans at the time of the bombings. No such effort was proposed or attempted for animals.
According to Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The Physical, Medical, and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings, plants suffered damage only in the portions exposed aboveground, while portions underground were not directly damaged. Consequently, the root and the underground stalk survived and the tree grew back, even where the above ground portion was completely burned away.
At the end of World War II on August 6, 1945 an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by the Americans. The plants and trees in the area around the epicentre were examined in September 1945. Among the survivors were the six Ginkgo biloba trees shown on this page. They were situated near the blast center and appeared to bud after the blast without major deformations and are still alive today.
I did not follow this topic but I've read in the newspapers that around Chernobil, in the "closed" zone there are several animals. Probably there is report available on their health status. It would be much easier to collect data on this unfortunate case, as it is closer in time, but the time interval after the incident is longer than in the case of Fukushima.
The Gingko Biloba species of tree is 270 million years old. It rarely suffers disease or insect attack and was one of the only living things to survive the Hiroshima nuclear bombing. The trees healed quickly and are still alive today.
Chernobyl's unprecedented disaster has accidentally created an ecological laboratory where scientists can see the real-world effects of radiation exposure. For this study, researchers took blood and feather samples from 152 birds from 16 different species at eight sites around the Chernobyl exclusion zone — something that could never be replicated in a confined laboratory.
What the researchers discovered can prove to be key in understanding the effects of radiation exposure on living organisms. For instance, they found that birds with more melanin in their feathers were in poorer health. The production of pheomelanin, a type of melanin, was using up all the antioxidants in the birds' bodies, which should have been used to fight ionizing radiation.
While the two species that produce a lot of pink pigment in their feathers — the great tit (Parus major) and the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) — failed to adapt well to their surroundings, the other 14 species did not waste their antioxidants on melanin and evolved to absorb and fight radiation in a more effective way.
In the 28 years that have passed, birds have learned to not only survive, but to thrive on the radioactive land. Though long-term radiation exposureusually damages cells with free radicals, researchers have found that birds in the Chernobyl exclusion zone were in much better condition than expected.
I have not recognized any systematic studies looking at whether the 1945 atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki have ecological or environmental impacts on exposed non-human biota themselves and their descendants transgenerationally. Nonetheless, provided below is some information albeit very limited.
In October 1945, Dr Matsunaga of Kyushu University (as delegation of the investigation group on atomic bomb impacts from the Ministry of Education) collected the ear/head of rice plant near the Urakami Cathedral or other areas situated at about 600-2500 m away from the hypocenter. In 1946, mutant rice was grown in the test agricultural field in which increased chromosome aberrations were observed. Such rice strains have been serially passaged and are still available(about half of the ears/heads of the plant fail to bear the grains.
Mutants in taro and sicklepod (Senna obtusifolia) have also been observed.
Back in 1945,when the little boy and fat-man explode,the effect of radiation exposure,which reaches up to 26,000ft, on animal has been studied. but insects like cockroach has believed to survive the disaster.
In 2005, the Institute of Nuclear Techniques of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics organized a research tour to Chernobyl. The time since the accident was 19 years only. Two of the conclusions were that "The disaster generated natural reserve" and "There is no indication of any specialty in the ecosystem of the exclusion zone" (photos 37 and 39). Download the PPS and AVI files from http://oldweb.reak.bme.hu/munkatarsak/dr-aszodi-attila/letoeltes.html
You are right. The English version of the referred page does not work at the moment. Go to the Hungarian version (its URL is given in my old message). The files to be downloaded are signed on the attached screen snapshot.
I try to contact the crew of the 2005 (!) expedition for answering your biological questions.
Prof. P. Zagyvai was that time the head of the personal dosimetry dept. of the Institute of Nuclear Techniques of BME. (He isn't a biologist.) You should contact him through RG. You may refer to me.