Environmental radioactivity study of Austrian and Bavarian forest ecosystems: Long-term behaviour of contamination of soil, vegetation and wild boar and its radioecological coherences.

137Cs and 40K in soil, vegetation and flesh of wild boar samples from Austrian and Bavarian regions were investigated by gamma-ray spectrometry and 90Sr in bones of wild boar with Liquid Scintillation Counting (LSC) after radiochemical separation. The soil core profiles revealed that 70-97% of the soil caesium content is still accumulated in the 0-10cm soil depth. From all vegetation samples the mushrooms, particularly the bay boletus showed the highest 137Cs contamination. The activity concentration of 137Cs in muscle tissue of boar ranged from 14.9±1.5Bq/kg (Bavaria) to 4711±377Bq/kg (Lower Austria). In the bones of wild boars, 90Sr activity concentration ranged from 1.4±0.2Bq/kg (Bavaria) to 70.3±10.5Bq/kg (Upper Austria).