Aerial view of a “Gamma Forest”, where growing trees are exposed to chronic irradiation from a source at the center of the picture. This environmental biology study shows varying sensitivity of various trees. Trees in the center were killed by extremely high doses of radiation for 20 hours a day over a 6-month period.
Apparatus containing a strong radiation source being installed by biologists in a semitropical rain forest for terrestrial ecology research.
In programs of such scope and duration, the problems of interpretation are great. Broadly, environmental studies give consideration to:
1. The amounts and kinds of radioactivity released to the environment.
2. The rates of uptake by the biological system.
3. The amounts and kinds of radioactivity within the system.
4. The rates of metabolic transfer or elimination.
5. The amounts and kinds of radioactivity concentrated in tissue and acting internally.
6. The time required for biological processes to be completed and for any biological effects to develop.