Uranium and the Food Web

From U.S. Geological Survey (USGS):

Ask someone about the risk from uranium, and the answer you usually get is radiation. But there is another risk to aquatic life, and that’s the ability of uranium to enter the food web. USGS scientists recently completed a lab study on freshwater snails to see if dissolved uranium could enter the snail’s systems.

They found that it could, and that various factors like the pH of the water, the presence of dissolved organic matter, or the amounts of dissolved calcium or magnesium could affect how much uranium was taken in by the snails.

Read more about the study here:http://on.doi.gov/2d1MTf1

Image caption: Image shows a freshwater snail against a black background. Credit: Javier Garcia-Alonso, USGS. #USGS #science #Toxicology#Uranium