title: Uptake of 226Ra by established vegetation and black cutworm larvae, Agrotis ipsilon (class Insecta: order Lepidoptera), on U mill tailings at Elliot Lake, Canada.
abstract: Radium-226 levels in samples from an inactive U tailings site at Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada, were: 9,140 +/- 500 mBq g-1 dry weight in the substrate; 62 +/- 1 mBq g-1 dry weight in rye, Secale cereale, and less than 3.7 mBq g-1 dry weight in oats, Avena sativa, the dominant species established by revegetation of the tailings; and 117 +/- 7 mBq g-1 dry weight in washed and unwashed black cutworm larvae. Concentration ratios were: vegetation to tailings 0.001-0.007; black cutworms to vegetation 3.6 and black cutworms to tailings 0.01. The values are considered too low to be considered a hazard to herring gulls, Larus argentatus, which occasionally feed on cutworms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: F V
authors.initials: FV
authors.lastname: Clulow
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Davé
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Cloutier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000378:metabolism*; D007814:Larva / Q000378:metabolism; D007915:Lepidoptera / Q000378:metabolism*; D008906:Mining; D009864:Ontario; D011850:Radioactive Waste; D011883:Radium / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D012434:Secale / Q000378:metabolism; D014501:Uranium
chemical_list: D011850:Radioactive Waste; D014501:Uranium; D011883:Radium