title: Frequency distributions of 90Sr and 137Cs concentrations in an ecosystem of the "Red Forest" area in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
abstract: In the most highly contaminated region of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the "Red Forest" site, the accumulation of the major dose-affecting radionuclides (90Sr and 137Cs) within the components of an ecological system encompassing 3,000 m(2) was characterized. The sampled components included soils (top 0-10 cm depth), Molina caerulea (blue moor grass), Camponotus vagus (carpenter ants), and Pelobates fuscus (spade-footed toad). In a comparison among the components of this ecosystem, the 90Sr and 137Cs concentrations measured in 40 separate grids exhibited significant differences, while the frequency distribution of the values was close to a logarithmically-normal leptokurtic distribution with a significant right-side skew. While it is important to identify localized areas of high contamination or "hot spots," including these values in the arithmetic mean may overestimate the exposure risk. In component sample sets that exhibited logarithmically normal distribution, the geometric mean more accurately characterizes a site. Ideally, risk assessment is most confidently achieved when the arithmetic and geometric means are most similar, meaning the distribution approaches normal. Through bioaccumulation, the highest concentrations of 90Sr and 137Cs were measured in the blue moor grass and spade-footed toad. These components also possessed distribution parameters that shifted toward a normal distribution.
authors: International Radioecology Laboratory, Chernobyl Center for Nuclear Safety, Radioactive Waste and Radioecology, Slavutych, Ukraine.
authors: Sergey P
authors: SP
authors: Gaschak
authors: Yulia A
authors: YA
authors: Makliuk
authors: Andrey M
authors: AM
authors: Maksimenko
authors: Mikhail D
authors: MD
authors: Bondarkov
authors: Igor
authors: I
authors: Chizhevsky
authors: Eric F
authors: EF
authors: Caldwell
authors: G Timothy
authors: GT
authors: Jannik
authors: Eduardo B
authors: EB
authors: Farfán
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects; D001001:Anura / Q000378:metabolism; D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D047852:Chernobyl Nuclear Accident; D017753:Ecosystem; D006109:Poaceae / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D014197:Trees; D014455:Ukraine
chemical_list: D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes; D013326:Strontium Radioisotopes