Radiation Doses Sustained by Lizards in a Continuously Irradiated Natural Enclosure

Abstract

Desert lizards occupying a 20—acre experimental facility continuously exposed to gamma radiation sustain tissue doses which are less than the cumulative free—air dose. Vegetation and terrain afford some shielding, but time spent below ground is the major source of protection. We estimate that, in the course of a year, tissue doses sustained by Uta stansburiana are from 0.3 to 0.6 of the cumulative free—air dose, and that about 1/3 of the total dose is experienced between June and August. Cnemidophorus tigris spends less time above ground, and sustains annual doses representing only about 0.1 to 0.2 of total incident gamma radiation. The dose experience of Crotaphytus wislizeni is intermediate to the other two species. Dose regimes experienced by Uta stansburiana in the experimental area are not acutely lethal.

Effects of Radiation on a Fenced Population of Horned Lizards (Phrynosoma Platyrhinos) in Southern Nevada.

“…The radiation dose experience of horned lizards has not been measured directly as it has in three other species occupying the irradiated area (Turner and Lannom, 1968). However, judging from daily and seasonal activity patterns of Phrynosoma, we judge that tissue doses to horned lizards are similar to those received by Crotaphytus, 1.S.…”

“…In this paper we first wish to discuss both direct and indirect evidence of radiation-induced sterility among female horned lizards Turner and Lannom (1968), and…”