Derivation of regional hazardous doses for amphibians acutely exposed to ionising radiation

Abstract

Abstract. Estimation of 50% lethal doses from nuclear DNA contents and subsequent species sensitivity distribution analysis was performed to derive regional 5% hazardous doses (HD 5 ) for major orders Anura (e.g., frogs) and Caudata (e.g., salamanders) of amphibians inhabiting Japan, Australia, France, Czech Republic, Canada and some US states, where nuclear power plants or uranium mines are located. The HD 5 values ranged from 3.0 to 7.7 Gy for the Anura inhabiting there while they ranged from 2.9 to 4.6 Gy for the Caudata. Comparison of these results with the worldwide HD 5 s (5.3 Gy for the Anura and 3.3 Gy for the Caudata) suggests that benchmark values for the Asian and Oceanic Anura and the European Caudata can be set at higher doses than the global values. Regional differences should be, therefore, considered when benchmark values are derived for some taxonomic groups.