Radiocaesium uptake in moose in relation to home range and habitat composition

Abstract Nineteen radio-collared moose Alces alces ) were used to determine if the ground deposition of 137 Cs and habitat types in their home range affected 137 Cs 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 137 Cs levels in moose in September. However the habitat types in the area where the moose were killed did show a significant correlation with the 137 Cs activity concentration in the animals. The frequencies of mire and farmland were the two habitats that were most strongly correlated with the 137 Cs 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 137 Cs between ground deposition and concentration in moose, but even here the model predicting 137 Cs activity concentration in moose muscle was improved by including the proportion of farmland and mire.