title: Predicting exposure of wildlife in radionuclide contaminated wetland  ecosystems.
abstract: Many wetlands support high biodiversity and are protected sites, but some are contaminated with radionuclides from routine or accidental releases from nuclear facilities. This radiation exposure needs to be assessed to demonstrate radiological protection of the environment. Existing biota dose models cover generic terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems, not wetlands specifically. This paper, which was produced under IAEA's Environmental Modelling for Radiation Safety (EMRAS) II programme, describes an evaluation of how models can be applied to radionuclide contaminated wetlands. Participants used combinations of aquatic and terrestrial model parameters to assess exposure. Results show the importance of occupancy factor and food source (aquatic or terrestrial) included. The influence of soil saturation conditions on external dose rates is also apparent. In general, terrestrial parameters provided acceptable predictions for wetland organisms. However, occasionally predictions varied by three orders of magnitude between assessors. Possible further developments for biota dose models and research needs are identified.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Environment, and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden. karolina.stark@su.se
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stark
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Beresford
authors.forename: T L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Yankovich
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Johansen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vives i Batlle
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Twining
authors.forename: D-K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Keum
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bollhöfer
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Doering
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grzechnik
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vandenhove
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005618:Fresh Water; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D012987:Soil; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D014878:Water Pollution, Radioactive / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D053833:Wetlands
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes; D012987:Soil; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive