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Bioaccumulation of uranium 234U and 238U in marine birds

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Abstract

In the paper was presented results of our study about uranium 234U and 238U radioactivity in the marine birds samples, collected in the Polish area of the southern Baltic Sea. We chose 11 species of sea birds: three species permanently residing at southern Baltic, four species of wintering birds and three species of migrating birds. The obtained results indicated that uranium is very irregularly distributed in organs and tissues of marine birds. The highest uranium content is characterized in liver, rest of viscera and feathers, the smallest in skin and muscles. The uranium concentration was higher for carnivorous species (long-tailed duck (C. hyemalis), common eider (S. mollissima), lower for species eating fish (great cormorant (P. carbo), common guillemot (U. aalge), red-throated diver (G. stellata) and razorbill (A. tarda)), but the biggest amounts for herbivorous species [tufted duck (A. fuligula) and eurasian coot (F. atra)]. About 63–67% of uranium, which was located in feathers of two species of marine birds: razorbill (A. tarda) and long-tailed duck (C. hymealis), was apparently adsorbed, which suggests that uranium adsorption on the feathers may be an important transfer from air to water.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Sciences for the financial support of this work under grant: DS-8460-4-0176-10 and BW/8000-5-0249-9.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdańsk, Chair of Analytics and Environmental Radiochemistry, ul. Sobieskiego 18/19, 80-952, Gdansk, Poland

    Alicja Boryło & Bogdan Skwarzec

  2. Naval Academy, Śniadeckiego 61, 81-103, Gdynia, Poland

    Jacek Fabisiak

Authors
  1. Alicja Boryło
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  2. Bogdan Skwarzec
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  3. Jacek Fabisiak
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Correspondence to Bogdan Skwarzec.

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Boryło, A., Skwarzec, B. & Fabisiak, J. Bioaccumulation of uranium 234U and 238U in marine birds. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 284, 165–172 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-010-0462-3

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