US EPA

1431033 

Journal Article 

Uptake and concentration or uranium in animals and plants from a natural radioactive terrestrial ecosystem in Pakistan 

Qazi, JI; Jafri, RH 

1996 

0 

Punjab University Journal of Zoology
ISSN: 0079-8045 

BIOSIS/98/33923 

11 

0 

51-56 

eng 

BIOSIS COPYRIGHT: BIOL ABS. Radioecological survey was conducted on Miocene-Pliocene rocks of Qabool Khel area, district Bannu. Surface radioactivity ranged from 150 | 25 to 350 | 25 counts/sec. Animals and plants collected from the area have been found to contain uranium. Fluorimetric analyses of the grasshoppers of Acrida sp., larvae and adults of the butterfly Anaphaeis aurota, tenebroid beetles, shells of the mollusc (Zootecus insularis), a lizard and a spine of the porcupine Hystrix indica showed, 11.57, 2.77, 3.13, 3.03, 0.16, 7.67 and 4.89 ppm of uranium oxide (U3O8), respectively. Amongst the plants various species viz., Calligonum polygonoides, Calotropis procera, Fagonia cretica, Periploca aphylla, Peristrophe bicalyculata and Rhazya stricta showed uranium oxide (U3O8) contents in the range of 0.03 to 1.25 ppm. 

Radiation-General; Ecology; Ecology; Public Health: Environmental Health-Air; Public Health: Environmental Health-Radiation Health; Plant Physiology; Invertebrata; Invertebrata; Acanthaceae; Apocynaceae; Asclepiadaceae; Polygonaceae; Zygophyllaceae; Gastropoda; Coleoptera; Lepidoptera; Orthoptera