title: Soil-fungi transfer coefficients: Importance of the location of mycelium in soil and of the differential availability of radionuclides in soil fractions.
abstract: Soil-fungus transfer coefficients are usually defined as the ratio between the content of the fruiting bodies and that of the soil. Since, however, the methodology of how to determine the soil content is not firmly established, there exist a variety of definitions in the literature. We analyzed the 137Cs, 90Sr, 40K, and 226Ra content of mushroom and soil samples from two pine-wood ecosystems in Spain. The location of the mycelium in the soil profiles of these ecosystems was determined by means of the ergosterol concentration. The results showed the mycelium to generally be localized in the surface layer of soil (0-5 cm). We also carried out a speciation procedure for this layer of soil to determine the different degrees of association of the radionuclides in the soil. The results led us to propose some variations to the traditional definition used in quantifying radionuclide transfer. With these modifications, we were able to analyze Cs-K competition in several species of mycorrhizal and saprophytic fungi.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Veterinary, University of Extremadura, Avda. Universidad s/n, Cáceres 10071, Spain. ymiralle@unex.es
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baeza
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guillén
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Bernedo
mesh_terms: D000363:Agaricales / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D018533:Biomass; D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D005591:Chemical Fractionation; D047852:Chernobyl Nuclear Accident; D017753:Ecosystem; D004875:Ergosterol / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D025282:Mycelium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D028223:Pinus; D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D011847:Radioactive Fallout / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011883:Radium / Q000032:analysis*; D012588:Scintillation Counting; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D013030:Spain; D013051:Spectrometry, Gamma; D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D014197:Trees
chemical_list: D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes; D011197:Potassium Radioisotopes; D011847:Radioactive Fallout; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive; D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes; D011883:Radium; D004875:Ergosterol