METABOLISM OF RADIOCESIUM IN RED GROUSE

Red grouse eat a natural diet mostly of heather, a dwarf shrub which a ccumulates radiocaesium. Captive grouse were fed a diet, comprising 60 % heather contaminated with Chernobyl radiocaesium, containing about 1 500 Bq kq(-1) of radiocaesium. Intake and excretion of radiocaesium re ached equilibrium after 20-23 days and its biological half-life was 10 -11 days, with about 23% of the radiocaesium in the diet being absorbe d by the bird. Transfer coefficients for both captives and wild birds were about 10 days kg(-1). Radiocaesium activity concentrations in wil d birds reflected those in their diet and it is suggested that the sam pling of birds shot for sport could form an efficient means of monitor ing radiocaesium levels in heather-dominant uplands in the UK. Copyrig ht (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Limited