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Long‐term changes in strontium‐90 concentrations within a freshwater predator‐prey system
Author(s) -
Beddington J. R.,
Mills C. A.,
Beards F.,
Minski M. J.,
Bell J. N. B.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of fish biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1095-8649
pISSN - 0022-1112
DOI - 10.1111/j.1095-8649.1989.tb03019.x
Subject(s) - pike , esox , perch , biology , predation , predator , strontium , piscivore , percidae , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery , zoology , food chain , ecology , physics , nuclear physics
It proved possible to determine the levels of Sr‐90 in the opercular bones of individual pike, Esox Iucius , and in pooled samples of bones from perch, Perca fluviatilis . Results from both species from Windermere demonstrated that Sr‐90 levels rose from below the detection limits in the 1940s to a peak in the 1960s, followed by a decline in the subsequent two decades. This decline was slower than would have been expected from the decline in northern hemisphere Sr‐90 fallout, indicating the likelihood of recycling within the environment. Sr‐90 levels were consistently lower in pike than in perch, their main prey fish. Thus, there is no concentration of Sr‐90 up this part of the aquatic food chain. Tracking Sr‐90 in bones taken in successive years from ages 3 to 8 for a single cohort of pike showed that the quantity of Sr‐90 was closely related to opercular bone (and hence fish) weight. No significant increase in Sr‐90 concentration in the bone with increasing age was demonstrated.