vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A special debt of gratitude goes to Dr. william R. Scheli wno served as the author's supervisory committee chairman and advisor. His continued sup- port and guidance, friendship, and critical reading of the manuscript were generously and unhesitatingly offered. The author welcomes the opportunity to thank Professor Allyn H. Seymour, Director, and the entire staff of the Laboratory of Radiation Ecolony, whose patient support and assistance helped make this work possible. The contribu- tions of Dr. Ahmad Nevissi for many helpful discussions; of Mr. Richard Kina for counting and tabulation of the gamma data; and of Mr. Charles Vick for ' similar assistance with the alpha spectroscopy are most gratefully acknowledged. Ors. Kelshaw Ponham, Steven Mathews, Arthur Welander, Victor Nelson, and Edward Held of the School of Fisheries, and Dr. David Piper of the Dept. of Oceanooraphy, each provided the author with helpful discussions and expertise on different aspects of the project. I am finally indebted to Dr. Allyn Seymour for his suggestions on the final draft of the manuscript, and to Agnes Hurley, of the Laboratory of Radiation Ecology, for the typing of the manuscript. Drs. W. R. Schell, A. 4. Seymour, 9. Z. Piper and James ¥/. Murray, Jr. ably composed the author's supervisory committee. This work was supported by a Research Assistantship provided by the Laboratory of Radiation Ecology. Fundins for the assistantship was provided by the Energy Research and Development Administration's Division of Biomedical and Environmental Research, under research contract no. AT(45-1)2225-TA 18.