-37-

account also for the similarity in the
activity of these tissues
first 100 days,

to

decline of radio-

that of the soil.

After the

the rate of decline of radioactivity in all

these tissues was slower than that expected by physical decay of mixed fission products,

indicating that longer~lived

radioisotopes had been taken up by these plants.
The rate of decline of some tissues, however, was different from that of the soil,

suggesting that

some of

the

radioisotopes had been taken up by the plants and distributed
selectively in the plant tissues.

The rapid rate of

of radioactivity in the adventitious leaves,
fruits

decline

flowers,

and

of Scaevola and Messerschmidia indicates the presence

of short-lived radioisotopes in these tissues.

However,

the

rapid rate of decline of radioactivity in the scorched leaves,
which were incapable of normal metabolic activity,
attributed to a selection process.

This

apparent

cannot be
anomaly

might be explained on the basis of the differential adsorption
of fallout particles to the
tissues,
isotopes,

surfaces of living

versus

dead

on the differences in the foliar absorption of radioand on the different rates of removal of radioiso-

topes by rain water.
The results of the radiochemical analyses of the samples

collected during the period of February 1955 to October 1955

Select target paragraph3