title: Transfer of elements relevant to nuclear fuel cycle from soil to boreal plants and animals in experimental meso- and microcosms.
abstract: Uranium (U), cobalt (Co), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), thorium (Th) and zinc (Zn) occur naturally in soil but their radioactive isotopes can also be released into the environment during the nuclear fuel cycle. The transfer of these elements was studied in three different trophic levels in experimental mesocosms containing downy birch (Betula pubescens), narrow buckler fern (Dryopteris carthusiana) and Scandinavian small-reed (Calamagrostis purpurea ssp. Phragmitoides) as producers, snails (Arianta arbostorum) as herbivores, and earthworms (Lumbricus terrestris) as decomposers. To determine more precisely whether the element uptake of snails is mainly via their food (birch leaves) or both via soil and food, a separate microcosm experiment was also performed. The element uptake of snails did not generally depend on the presence of soil, indicating that the main uptake route was food, except for U, where soil contact was important for uptake when soil U concentration was high. Transfer of elements from soil to plants was not linear, i.e. it was not correctly described by constant concentration ratios (CR) commonly applied in radioecological modeling. Similar nonlinear transfer was found for the invertebrate animals included in this study: elements other than U were taken up more efficiently when element concentration in soil or food was low.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland. Electronic address: tiina.tuovinen@uef.fi.
authors.forename: Tiina S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Tuovinen
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kasurinen
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Elina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Häikiö
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box FI-70211, Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Arja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tervahauta
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Sari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Makkonen
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Toini
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Holopainen
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Juutilainen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017753:Ecosystem; D010944:Plants; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011848:Radioactive Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D011868:Radioisotopes; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D011848:Radioactive Pollutants; D011868:Radioisotopes; D012987:Soil
keywords: Concentration ratio; Element uptake; Food chain; Mesocosm; Microcosms; Radioecology