The forest surrounding Chernobyl after months of radiation exposure.
Ecological Pyramid
If after the explosion of the nuclear plant only 50% of the producers, the plant life, survived the initial exposure of radiation then the plant life could only have enough energy to support up to 5% of the primary consumers. In turn then that energy could only support 0.5% of the secondary consumers and 0.005% of the tertiary consumers. Coupled with the fact that after long periods of exposure time to the radiation and the increased mortality rates and decreased repopulation of both plants and animals within the biome the numbers get even smaller until the odds that the ecosystem can recover become almost impossible.
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*This picture is just an example of how the energy available decreases as the consumers become more advanced. These are not the actual numbers for the Chernobyl disaster.
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