137Cs concentrations in lichens before and after the Chernobyl accident.

137Cs activities were measured in a variety of epigeic and epiphytic lichens in Austria before and after contamination by the Chernobyl fallout. For comparison, the activity of the naturally occurring 40K was also determined in each lichen sample. The high 137Cs activities found after Chernobyl suggest that lichens are suitable and inexpensive biological detectors of the fallout pattern.