Disparity in 90Sr and 137Cs uptake in Alpine plants: phylogenetic effect and Ca and K availability
Guillaume, Thomas ; Chawla, Fabienne ; Steinmann, Philipp ; Gobat, Jean-Michel ; Froidevaux, Pascal
In: Plant and Soil, 2012, vol. 355, no. 1-2, p. 29-39
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- Background and aims: Uptake of 90Sr and 137Cs in plants varies widely between soil types and between plant species. It is now recognized that the radionuclide uptake in plants is more influenced by site-specific and plant-specific parameters rather than the bulk radionuclide concentration in soil. We hypothesized that the stress which Alpine plants experience because of the short growing season may enhance the phylogenetic effect on the 137Cs and 90Sr transfer factors as well as the dependency of the uptake by plant to the concentrations of exchangeable Ca and K of soils. Methods: We carried out a field study on the 90Sr and 137Cs uptake by 11 species of Alpine plants growing on 6 undisturbed and geochemically different soils in the Alpine valley of Piora, Switzerland. Results: Results show that a strong correlation exists between the log TF and the log of exchangeable Ca or K of the soils. Conclusions: Cs uptake by Phleum rhaeticum (Poales) and Alchemilla xanthochlora (Rosales) is more sensitive to the amount of exchangeable K in the soil than the corresponding uptake by other orders. Moreover, the 90Sr results indicate a phylogenetic effect between Non-Eudicot and Eudicots: the order Poales (Phleum rhaeticum) concentrating much less 90Sr than Eudicots do