Data comprise biological and ecological half-life values for marine, freshwater, terrestrial and riparian organisms. The database includes 1908 biological half-life values for 52 elements across a range of wildlife groups (marine, freshwater, terrestrial and riparian). The compilation of values from a range of sources was conducted by an international working group under the auspices of an International Atomic Energy Agency programme.
Publication date: 2015-06-30
Prior to beginning the review, a recording sheet (in Microsoft Excel), was designed to allow easy collation of the various components into the final database. The wildlife group categorisations were broadly compatible with those used in the Wildlife Transfer Database (as described by Copplestone et al. 2013) and subsequently by the IAEA (Howard et al. 2013; IAEA 2014). The 'Changeover time' is the intersect of the first and second biological half-lives when two regression lines on a logarithmic scale. No attempt was made to standardise the English common names used; similarly we have not updated Latin species names, but we acknowledge that these may have changed since the original publications.