An invitation to contribute to a strategic research agenda in radioecology

• Title: An invitation to contribute to a strategic research agenda in radioecology

  Author: Hinton, T.G. / Garnier-Laplace, J. / Vandenhove, H. / Dowdall, M. / Adam-Guillermin, C. / Alonzo, F. / Barnett, C. / (…) / Vives i Batlle, J.

  Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 115, p.73-82, Jan 2013

  doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2012.07.011                                           

  Keywords: Radioecology; Research; Agenda; Vision; STAR; ALLIANCE

  Abstract: ► The document is a draft Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) for radioecology. ► It is a vision of what can be achieved in the future by international collaboration. ► The SRA identifies 3 scientific challenges and 15 associated research lines. ► Critique for improving the SRA is welcomed at www.star-radioecology.org.

  URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X12001920

Sunlight-Exposed Biofilm Microbial Communities Are Naturally Resistant to Chernobyl Ionizing-Radiation Levels

• Title: Sunlight-Exposed Biofilm Microbial Communities Are Naturally Resistant to Chernobyl Ionizing-Radiation Levels

Author: Ragon, Marie / Restoux, Gwendal / Moreira, David / Møller, Anders Pape / López-García, Purificación Reference: PLoS ONE, 6 (7), Jul 2011 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0021764                                            Keywords: Abstract: The Chernobyl accident represents a long-term experiment on the effects of exposure to ionizing radiation at the ecosystem level. Though studies of these effects on plants and animals are abundant, the study of how Chernobyl radiation levels affect prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial communities is practically non-existent, except for a few reports on human pathogens or soil microorganisms. Environments enduring extreme desiccation and UV radiation, such as sunlight exposed biofilms could in principle select for organisms highly resistant to ionizing radiation as well. URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3135598/

Countermeasures used in the Ukraine to produce forage and animal food products with radionuclide levels below intervention limits after the Chernobyl accident

• Title: Countermeasures used in the Ukraine to produce forage and animal food products with radionuclide levels below intervention limits after the Chernobyl accident

Author: Prister, B.S. / Perepelyatnikov, G.P. / Perepelyatnikova, L.V. Reference: Science of The Total Environment, 137 (1-3), p.183-198, Sep 1993 doi: 10.1016/0048-9697(93)90387-L                                           

Keywords: countermeasures; forage; amelioration; fertilizer; Chernobyl accident; sapropeli

Abstract: Radionuclide levels in animal food products are determined by the contamination levels in both pasture vegetation and forage. The wide variety of different countermeasures used in areas of the Ukraine severely affected by the Chernobyl accident, to ensure that animals are provided with forage with sufficiently low contamination levels, are described and evaluated. URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/004896979390387L

CONCENTRATIONS AND DOSE RATE ESTIMATES OF 134,137CESIUM AND 90 STRONTIUM IN SMALL MAMMALS AT CHORNOBYL, UKRAINE

• Title: CONCENTRATIONS AND DOSE RATE ESTIMATES OF 134,137CESIUM AND 90 STRONTIUM IN SMALL MAMMALS AT CHORNOBYL, UKRAINE

Author: [RONALD K. C HESSER, DERRICK W. SUGG…KEVIN HOLLOMAN, and ROBERT J. BAKER]

Reference: Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 305–312, 2000

doi:                                            

Keywords: Chernobyl Dose Cesium Strontium

Abstract:

URL:http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/personnel/RJBaker/Publications/269-Concentrations%20and%20dose%20estimates-Chesser%20et%20al-2000.pdf

The vertical distribution of the Cs-137 derived from Chernobyl fall-out in the uppermost Sphagnum layer of two peatlands in the southern Alps (Italy)

• Title: The vertical distribution of the Cs-137 derived from Chernobyl fall-out in the uppermost Sphagnum layer of two peatlands in the southern Alps (Italy)

Author: Gerdol, Renato / Degetto, Sandro / Mazzotta, Dionisio / Vecchiati, Giorgio

Reference: Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, 75 (1-2), p.93-106, May 1994

doi: 10.1007/BF01100402                                            

Keywords:

Abstract: The patterns of concentration of the Cs-137 derived from the Chernobyl accident were analysed in a series of vertical profiles ofSphagnum collected at two peatlands in the southern Alps. The peak concentrations of the Chernobyl radiocesium were found in segments ofSphagnum located at different distances from the growing apex, probably corresponding to the plant tissues produced in the 1986 vegetation season.

URL: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF01100402

Chernobyl derived activity in sheep: Variation within a single flock and with time

• Title: Chernobyl derived activity in sheep: Variation within a single flock and with time

Author: Walters, B.

Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 7 (2), p.99-106, Jan 1988

doi: 10.1016/0265-931X(88)90001-X                                            

Keywords:

Abstract: The continuous monitoring of the caesium contents of sheep grazing a high fell in Cumbria, UK, is described. The technique of in-vivo monitoring, using portable NaI crystal detectors, is shown to be robust and capable of producing accurate quantitative data. Results are presented from the monitoring of 100 sheep at fortnightly intervals over a period of 13 weeks. The peak average activity (1300 Bq kg⁻¹) was reached five weeks after introduction of the sheep to grazing land with up to 2000 Bq kg⁻¹ in herbage.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0265931X8890001X

Application of molluscs for radioecological monitoring of the Chernobyl outburst

• Title: Application of molluscs for radioecological monitoring of the Chernobyl outburst

Author: Frantsevich, L. / Korniushin, A. / Pankov, I. / Ermakov, A. / Zakharchuk, T.

Reference: Environmental Pollution, 94 (1), p.91-100, Jan 1996

doi: 10.1016/S0269-7491(96)00105-4                                            

Keywords: Molluscs; radioecology; Chernobyl; radioactive pollution

Abstract: Accumulation of radionuclides was studied in molluscs from the territories polluted by the Chernobyl outburst. In addition to radiochemical evaluation of ⁹⁰Sr, a simple method of beta-radiometry of shells was applied which allowed processing of extensive samples and mapping of contamination of large territories: the Dnieper drainage area and the Kiev administrative region. Pre-Hiroshima and pre-Chernobyl radioactivity was investigated in museum collections.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749196001054

Assessment of radiation doses to aquatic organism’s in the chernobyl contaminated area

• Title: Assessment of radiation doses to aquatic organism’s in the chernobyl contaminated area

Author: Kryshev, I.I. / Sazykina, T.G.

Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 28 (1), p.91-103, Jan 1995

doi: 10.1016/0265-931X(94)00043-V                                            

Keywords:

Abstract: Internal and external radiation exposures of aquatic organisms (algae, molluscs, fish) are estimated over the affected Chernobyl area. The estimates are made based on experimental data about radionuclide content in components of aquatic ecosystems of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) cooling pond, the Dnieper watershed rivers and the Dnieper reservoirs. To reconstruct and predict the radiation doses a mathematical model of an aquatic ecosystem was proposed, which was verified with monitoring data. The model describes dynamic processes of radionuclide migration and accumulation with allowance for ecological factors which are explicitly included in the model equations.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0265931X9400043V

Anthropogenic influences on estuarine sedimentation and ecology: examples from the varved sediments of the Pettaquamscutt River Estuary, Rhode Island

• Title: Anthropogenic influences on estuarine sedimentation and ecology: examples from the varved sediments of the Pettaquamscutt River Estuary, Rhode Island

Author: Hubeny, J. Bradford / King, John W. / Cantwell, Mark

Reference: Journal of Paleolimnology, 41 (2), p.297-314, Feb 2009

doi: 10.1007/s10933-008-9226-2                                             

Keywords: Pettaquamscutt River Estuary, Eutrophication, Land use change, Natural background conditions, Varve

Abstract: Estuaries and lakes are undergoing anthropogenic alterations as development and industry intensify in the modern world. Assessing the ecological health of such water bodies is difficult because accurate accounts of pre-anthropogenic estuarine/lacustrine conditions do not exist. Sediments preserved in water bodies provide archives of environmental changes that can be used to understand both natural and anthropogenic forcings. Here, a high-resolution, multi-proxy approach is used to reconstruct environmental conditions of the Pettaquamscutt River Estuary, Rhode Island, over the last millennium.

URL: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10933-008-9226-2

Fungi as bioindicators of radiocaesium contamination: Pre- and Post-Chernobyl activities

• Title: Fungi as bioindicators of radiocaesium contamination: Pre- and Post-Chernobyl activities

Author: Haselwandter, K. / Berreck, M. / Brunner, P.

Reference: Transactions of the British Mycological Society, 90 (2), p.171-174, Mar 1988

doi: 10.1016/S0007-1536(88)80085-8                                             

Keywords:

Abstract: Mean ¹³⁷Cs content of basidiocarps is 3·0–4·8 × higher than before the accident at Chernobyl. Patterns of accumulation of ¹³⁷Cs are species specific with the pileus more radioactive than the stipe.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007153688800858