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Cesium-137 contamination of river food webs in a gradient of initial fallout deposition in Fukushima, Japan

  • Special Feature: Original Paper
  • Tracing Radioactive Substances in River Basins for Effective Mitigation Measures
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Abstract

We examined the cesium-137 (137Cs) contamination of river food webs in a gradient of initial fallout deposition (net density estimates 2.5–3.5 months after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in March 2011), in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Litter, aquatic insects, and salmonid fish were collected in five headwater stream reaches (watershed-average fallout density, 368.1–1398.4 kBq/m2) for the measurement of 137Cs concentration and stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) in June 2014. The stable isotope ratios suggested that the detrital food chain was a dominant energy pathway in rivers originating from a basal resource (litter) to primary (aquatic insects) and secondary (fish) consumers. The 137Cs concentration decreased with an increase in the trophic level, with the highest value for litter (10930 ± 5381 Bq/kg, mean ± SD), the lowest for fish (2825 ± 2451 Bq/kg), and the intermediate one for dominant (numerically and biomass-wise) detritivorous insect, Ephemera japonica McLachlan (4605 ± 1970 Bq/kg). 137Cs concentrations of three trophic levels were linearly predicted by the initial fallout amount of 137Cs. The evacuation of the gut contents of E. japonica during field experiments led to a reduction in their 137Cs concentration by approximately 50% within 1–2 day(s) without loss of body weight. This suggested that a substantial portion of 137Cs contamination of E. japonica was derived from highly contaminated fine solids deposited in depositional habitats at a disproportionately high density. Overall, the initial fallout amount of 137Cs was helpful in roughly predicting the contamination levels of headwater river-riparian ecosystems with the detrital food chain as a dominant energy pathway. Long-term monitoring of the dynamics and fates of 137Cs associated with fine organic and inorganic particulates appears important for better prediction of 137Cs contamination of food webs in forested headwater streams.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the members of the laboratories at Hokkaido University and Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology for their cooperation and supporting fieldwork. This study was aided financially by the Environmental Research Fund (4ZD-1202) of the Ministry of Environment, Japan, and also in part by a Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (nos. 24248058 and 16H02556 to G. T.) and (no. 15H04511 for T. H.) from the Japan Society for Promotion of Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, N10, W5, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0860, Japan

    J. N. Negishi & K. Miura

  2. Department of Integrated Science and Engineering for Sustainable Society, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 112-8551, Japan

    M. Sakai

  3. Department of International Environmental and Agricultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 3-5-8 Saiwai-cho, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo, 183-8509, Japan

    K. Okada, A. Iwamoto & T. Gomi

  4. Civil Engineering Research Institute for Cold Region, Public Works Research Institute, Hiragishi 1-3-1-34, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 062-8602, Japan

    M. Nunokawa

  5. Natural Environmental Conservation Center, Nanasawa 657, Astugi, Kanagawa, 2430121, Japan

    M. Ohhira

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  1. J. N. Negishi
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Correspondence to J. N. Negishi.

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Negishi, J.N., Sakai, M., Okada, K. et al. Cesium-137 contamination of river food webs in a gradient of initial fallout deposition in Fukushima, Japan. Landscape Ecol Eng 14, 55–66 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-017-0328-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11355-017-0328-8

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