title: Natural and Chernobyl-caused radioactivity in mushrooms, mosses and soil-samples of defined biotops in SW Bavaria.
abstract: Different mushrooms, mosses and corresponding soil samples have been collected mainly from two sites in the alpine region of southwestern Bavaria. At the end of the growthseason, September 1986, gamma spectroscopic analysis showed that the moss-, mould, and needle-layer contained considerably more134Cs and137Cs activity per unit fresh weight than eight different species of mushroom. These two isotopes were carried into the biotop mainly as a consequence of the Chernobyl accident.131J could not be found any more in the samples ca. 5-6 months after the catastrophe. The activity of the cesium isotopes decreased with increasing soil depth. In the mushrooms the activity was relatively high in Xerocomus badius and surprisingly low in Boletus edulis; samples of the latter and of Cantharellus cibarius collected in September 1985 (before the accident) and kept deep frozen contained almost identical amounts of137Cs as those collected from August to October 1986. Mushrooms contained considerably more of the natural isotope40K than the needlelayers and the soil samples in the neighbourhood. In all mushrooms except Xerocomus badius the activity of40K was generally higher than the137Cs activity. The results indicate that except Xerocomus badius the analyzed mushrooms do not actively take up Cs from the soil, in contrast to K.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Botanik und Mikrobiologie, Technische Universität München, Arcisstrasse 21, D-8000, München 2, Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.forename: E F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Elstner
authors.affiliation: Strahlenbiologisches Institut der Ludwig Maximilians-Universität München, Schillerstrasse 42, D-8000, München 2, Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.affiliation: Institut für Botanik und Mikrobiologie, Technische Universität München, Arcisstrasse 21, D-8000, München 2, Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Höll
authors.affiliation: Strahlenbiologisches Institut der Ludwig Maximilians-Universität München, Schillerstrasse 42, D-8000, München 2, Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lengfelder
authors.affiliation: Institut für Botanik und Mikrobiologie, Technische Universität München, Arcisstrasse 21, D-8000, München 2, Federal Republic of Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ziegler
keywords: 137Cesium; 40K; Cesium uptake; Chernobyl accident; Mushrooms