A database of radionuclide biological half-life values for wildlife
Beresford, N.A., Beaugelin-Seiller, K., Wells, C., Vives-Lynch, S., Vives i Batlle, J., Wood, M.D., Tagami, K., Real, A., Burgos, J., Fesenko, S., Cujic, M., Kryshev, A., Pachal, N., Su, B.S., Barnett, C.L., Uchida, S., Hinton, T., Mihalík, J., Stark, K., Willrodt, C., Chaplow, J.S. (2015). A database of radionuclide biological half-life values for wildlife. NERC Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/b95c2ea7-47d2-4816-b942-68779c59bc4d
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.
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.
copyright UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
NERC Environmental Information Data Centre
Independent Radiological Protection Specialist
Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy
Copplestone, D., Beresford, N. A., Brown, J. E., & Yankovich, T. (2013). An international database of radionuclide concentration ratios for wildlife: development and uses. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 126, 288-298.
Howard, B. J., Beresford, N. A., Copplestone, D., Telleria, D., Proehl, G., Fesenko, S., ... Wells, C. (2013). The IAEA handbook on radionuclide transfer to wildlife. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 121, 55-74.
Vives i Batlle, J., Beresford, N. A., Beaugelin-Seiller, K., Bezhenar, R., Brown, J., Cheng, J.-J., ... Heling, R. (2016). Inter-comparison of dynamic models for radionuclide transfer to marine biota in a Fukushima accident scenario. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 153, 31-50.
Beresford, N. A., Beaugelin-Seiller, K., Burgos, J., Cujic, M., Fesenko, S., Kryshev, A., ... Wood, M. D. (2015). Radionuclide biological half-life values for terrestrial and aquatic wildlife. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 150, 270-276.
Vives i Batlle, J., Aoyama, M., Bradshaw, C., Brown, J., Buesseler, K. O., Casacuberta, N., ... Nishikawa, J. (2018). Marine radioecology after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident: Are we better positioned to understand the impact of radionuclides in marine ecosystems? Science of The Total Environment, 618, 80-92.
Beaugelin-Seiller, K., Howard, B. J., & Garnier-Laplace, J. (2019). An approach to identifying the relative importance of different radionuclides in ecological radiological risk assessment: Application to nuclear power plant releases. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 197, 116-126.
Vives i Batlle, J. (2016). Impact of the Fukushima accident on marine biota, five years later. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 12(4), 654-658.
Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire
National Institute of Radiological Sciences
Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas
Scientific & Production Association TYPHOON