Strontium-90 and caesium-137 activity concentrations in bats in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
Bats are a protected species and as such may be an object of protection in radiological assessments of the environment. However, there have previously been only few radioecological studies of species of bats. In this paper, results for >140 measurements of (90)Sr and (137)Cs in 10 species of bats collected within the Chernobyl zone are presented. There was some indication of a decreasing transfer of (90)Sr with increasing deposition, although this was inconsistent across species and explained little of the observed variability. There was no difference between male and female bats in the transfer (expressed as the ratio of whole-body activity concentrations to those in soil) of either radionuclide. There was considerable variability in transfer across all species groups. At two sites where there were sufficient data, Eptesicus serotinus was found to have higher transfer than other species.
Gashchak
Sergey
S
International Radioecology Laboratory, Chernobyl Center for Nuclear Safety, Radioactive Waste and Radioecology, Slavutych, Ukraine. sgaschak@chornobyl.net
Beresford
Nicholas Anthony
NA
Maksimenko
Andrey
A
Vlaschenko
Anton S
AS
D000818:Animals; D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D047852:Chernobyl Nuclear Accident; D002685:Chiroptera; D004463:Ecology; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D008297:Male; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D012737:Sex Factors; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive; D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D014455:Ukraine
D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes; D012990:Soil Pollutants, Radioactive; D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes