RADIOCESIUM UPTAKE IN MOOSE IN RELATION TO HOME-RANGE AND HABITAT COMPOSITION

Nineteen radio-collared moose (Alces alces) were used to determine if the ground deposition of Cs-137 and habitat types in their home range affected Cs-137 activity concentration in their muscle tissue. In addition, 119 non-radio-collared moose from a larger area of northern Sweden were used to further test the validity of this model. In the summer home range (end of May until September) no significant correlation was found between the landscape composition or ground deposition and the Cs-137 levels in moose in September. However the habitat types in the area where the moose were killed did show a significant correlation with the Cs-137 activity concentration in the animals. The frequencies of mire and farmland were the two habitats that were most strongly correlated with the Cs-137 levels in the moose. The more mire, the higher the concentrations found in moose, and the more farmland, the lower the concentrations. The 119 animals from the larger area showed the strongest correlation of Cs-137 between ground deposition and concentration in moose, but even here the model predicting Cs-137 activity concentration in moose muscle was improved by including the proportion of farmland and mire.