Radionuclides’ content in forest ecosystem located in southwestern part of Serbia

Abstract

The results of the gamma-spectrometric measurements in a 16500 ha large region of south-western Serbia, are presented. Activity concentrations of 40K, 137Cs, and 210Pb in different deciduous and evergreen trees in the region are investigated. For all the investigated isotopes, there is a tendency that, on average, the lowest activity concentrations were found in tree stems, then in leaves, while the highest ones were in the soil. Statistical analysis did not show any differences between activity concentrations of leaves and needles, showing that both leaves and needles could be equally well used as a biomonitors.