Determination of gamma radioactivity levels and associated dose rates of soil samples of the Akkuyu/Mersin using high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry.

In this study several soil samples were collected from the Büyükeceli district where Turkey's first nuclear power plant will be built and radioactivity concentrations of (226)Ra, (232)Th, (40)K and (137)Cs were determined by gamma spectrometry using a high-purity germanium detector. The measured activity concentrations in soil samples ranged from 9.8 ± 0.7 to 258.6 ± 15.8, 11.7 ± 0.9 to 85.6 ± 5.0, 173.8 ± 2.1 to 1949.5 ± 14.7 and 0.4 ± 0.1 to 72.2 ± 2.2 Bq kg(-1) for (226)Ra, (232)Th, (40)K and (137)Cs, respectively. Findings are in good agreement with the published results of neighbouring areas. The absorbed gamma dose rate (D) in air and the annual effective dose of soil samples were calculated to be 80.2 nGy h(-1) and 98.3 mSv y(-1), respectively. The results show that the radiation hazard in the Büyükeceli district is insignificant. The data presented in this study would be very useful to determine the future effects of the nuclear power plant to the environment.

Distortion of symmetrical introgression in a hybrid zone: evidence for locus-specific selection and uni-directional range expansion.

The fate of species integrity upon natural hybridization depends on the interaction between selection and dispersal. The relative significance of these processes may be studied in the initial phase of contact before selection and gene flow reach equilibrium. Here we study a hybrid zone of two salamander species, Lyciasalamandra antalyana and Lyciasalamandra billae, at the initial phase of hybridization. We quantify the degree and mode of introgression using nuclear and mtDNA markers. The hybrid zone can be characterized as an abrupt transition zone, the central hybrid zone being only c. 400 m, but introgressed genes were traced up to 3 km. Introgression was traced in both sexes but gene flow may be slightly male-biased. Indirect evidence suggests that hybrid males are less viable than females. Introgression occurred at two levels: (1) locus-specific selection led to different allelic introgression patterns independent of species, while (2) asymmetrical species-level introgression occurred predominately from L. antalyana to L. billae due to range expansion of the former. This indicates that foreign genes can be incorporated into novel genomic environments, which in turn may contribute to the great diversity of morphological variants in Lyciasalamandra.