Spatial and temporal variations of 137 Cs in moose Alces alces and transfer to man in northern Sweden

• Published in: Wildlife Biology
• Main Authors: Palo, R. Thomas, White, Neil, Danell, Kjell
• Other Authors: Fourth Framework Programme
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2003
• Subjects: Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law; Nature and Landscape Conservation; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Alces alces; North Sweden; Northern Sweden
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.2981/wlb.2003.052; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.2981/wlb.2003.052; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2981/wlb.2003.052

The radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident in 1986 contaminated parts of the boreal forest ecosystems in Sweden, and we report on the activity concentration of radiocaesium 137 Cs in the meat of moose Alces alces caught in the county of Västerbotten in north‐Sweden during 1986–1996. Countywide, the geographic distribution patterns of 137 Cs activity in moose muscle were similar in 1986 and 1993. The underlying relationship between 137 Cs concentration in moose muscle and ground deposition remained significant for all years, but the proportion of variation explained by this relationship was variable and low in most years. The transfer rate of 137 Cs to moose underwent marked annual fluctuations that appear to be synchronous over large areas. The fluctuations in the uptake of 137 Cs by moose most probably result from variations in food selection or shifts in habitats. The transfer rate of 137 Cs to moose seems to be higher in coastal areas than in inland areas. The 137 Cs activity in moose was considerably higher in 1993 than should be expected from a simple decay model based on original deposition data and the 137 Cs levels in moose meat from 1986. The large temporal variations in transfer rate make future predictions of transfer to moose and man unreliable. We found that the annual hunting of moose is a major source of 137 Cs transfer to man in this region.