Radiocesium contamination of the web spider Nephila clavata (Nephilidae: Arachnida) 1.5 years after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

We measured the concentrations of radiocesium (134Cs and 137Cs) in a large web spider, Nephila clavata L. Koch (Nephilidae: Arachnida), collected at three sites at different distances from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant about 1.5 y after the accident in March 2011. The radiocesium concentrations in spiders were highest in a streamside secondary forest 33 km northwest of the power plant: mean ± a standard deviation of 2.401 ± 1.197 Bq g−1 dry for 134Cs and 3.955 ± 1.756 Bq g−1 dry for 137Cs. In a hillside secondary forest 37 km northwest of the power plant, the mean concentrations of 134Cs and 137Cs were 0.825 ± 0.247 Bq g−1 dry and 1.470 ± 0.454 Bq g−1 dry, respectively. In a pine forest 62 km west of the power plant, very low radiocesium concentrations were detected, but in only a few individuals. The concentrations of 134Cs and 137Cs in spiders collected at each site tended to be correlated with the air radiation dose rate at each site. Since spiders are key components of food webs in forests, the high concentrations in this species at contaminated sites suggested that the radiocesium from the accident has transferred through food chains and reached to higher trophic level of the food chains. •We investigated radiocesium contamination of large web spiders in Fukushima.•Spiders collected at three different sites in Fukushima were contaminated.•Radiocesium concentrations of spiders tended to increase with the air radiation dose rates.•Radiocesium concentrations of spiders did not affect by the amount of prey.