Radioecological Concentration Processes

Book excerpt: Radioecological Concentration Processes present the overall model for problems of environmental contamination in terms of system analysis. This book discusses the major investigational approaches to study of environmental contamination with radioactivity. Organized into 90 chapters, this book starts with an overview of the results of the experimental investigations into the distribution of strontium in soils and the uptake of this nuclide by plants. This text then presents the comparison of the distribution character in different soil types, which shows clearly that ploughed soils differ from virgin soils by a more uniform and similar character of radioisotope distribution in them. Other chapters consider the migration of 90Sr in the mostly podzolic and water-logged soils of moderately northern latitudes of Russia. The final chapter deals with the experiments with the shore crab Carcinus maenas, which shows that the crab is able to regulate the zinc content of its body against changes in the zinc content of food or of surrounding water. Biochemists will find this book useful.