Journal ArticleDOI
Ecological Characteristics of Small Mammal Communities at a Superfund Site
Kendra L. Phelps,Karen McBee +1 more
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In this article, the authors determined ecological characteristics of small mammal communities inhabiting a heavy metal contaminated site, Tar Creek Superfund Site, compared to reference sites located in northeastern Oklahoma over a 2 y timeframe.Abstract:
Wildlife species can serve as biomonitors of environmental health and are prognostic of ecotoxicological consequences when contaminants are introduced into the environment. Small mammals, particularly rodents, comprise the majority of indicator species used in terrestrial biomonitoring studies; however, many biomonitoring studies address acute effects over relatively short periods. We still know little regarding effects of chronic exposure to contaminants on small mammals. The overall goal of this study was to determine ecological characteristics of small mammal communities inhabiting a heavy metal contaminated site, Tar Creek Superfund Site, compared to reference sites located in northeastern Oklahoma over a 2 y timeframe. Primary hazardous materials present at Tar Creek Superfund Site include lead, zinc and cadmium. Mark-recapture techniques were employed to test the hypothesis that structure and composition of small mammal communities inhabiting this contaminated site would be significantly altered compared to uncontaminated reference sites. Contaminated and reference sites were similar in vegetation compositional characteristics. Small mammal communities inhabiting Tar Creek Superfund Site had reduced species diversity, including richness and evenness, compared to reference sites. Furthermore, communities within Tar Creek Superfund Site were dominated by a single species, Peromyscus leucopus (white-footed mouse). Species composition was different between contaminated sites and reference sites as evidenced by detrended correspondence analysis, with contaminated sites being more similar to each other than to either reference site. No direct link between site contamination and disparities among most ecological characteristics could be established.read more
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Book Chapter
Metals and Metalloids in Terrestrial Systems: Bioaccumulation,Biomagnification and Subsequent Adverse Effects
TL;DR: This review examines the trophic movement of metals and metalloids within terrestrial ecosystems and the consequences of biomagnification and toxicity on populations.
Journal ArticleDOI
Peromyscus as a Mammalian Epigenetic Model
Kimberly R. Shorter,Janet P. Crossland,Denessia Webb,Gabor Szalai,Michael R. Felder,Paul B. Vrana +5 more
TL;DR: It is suggested that in terms of tying natural genetic variants with environmental effects in producing specific epigenetic effects, Peromyscus models have a great potential.
Journal ArticleDOI
Comparison of two wild rodent species as sentinels of environmental contamination by mine tailings.
Efraín Tovar-Sánchez,L. T. Cervantes,C. Martínez,Emilio Rojas,Mahara Valverde,Ma. Laura Ortiz-Hernández,Patricia Mussali-Galante +6 more
TL;DR: Metal tissue concentrations and DNA damage levels for comparison between genders of a sentinel and a nonsentinel species are analyzed and B. musculus is considered as a suitable species to assess environmental quality, especially for bioaccumulable pollutants—such as metals.
Journal ArticleDOI
Evidence of population genetic effects in Peromyscus melanophrys chronically exposed to mine tailings in Morelos, Mexico
Patricia Mussali-Galante,Efraín Tovar-Sánchez,Mahara Valverde,Leticia Valencia-Cuevas,Emilio Rojas +4 more
TL;DR: It is highlighted that metal stress is a major factor affecting the distribution and genetic diversity levels of P. melanophrys populations living inside mine tailings and the use of genetic population changes at micro-geographical scales as a population level biomarker is suggested.
Journal ArticleDOI
Peromyscus (deer mice) as developmental models
Paul B. Vrana,Kimberly R. Shorter,Gabor Szalai,Michael R. Felder,Janet P. Crossland,Monika Veres,Jasmine E. Allen,Christopher D. Wiley,Amanda R. Duselis,Michael J. Dewey,Wallace D. Dawson +10 more
TL;DR: Deer mice (Peromyscus) are the most common native North American mammals, and exhibit great natural genetic variation.
References
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Biometery: The principles and practice of statistics in biological research
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a model for the analysis of variance in a single-classification and two-way and multiway analysis of Variance with the assumption of correlation.
Book
Biometry: The Principles and Practice of Statistics in Biological Research
Robert R. Sokal,F. James Rohlf +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a model for the analysis of variance in a single-classification and two-way and multiway analysis of Variance with the assumption of correlation.
CANOCO Reference Manual and CanoDraw for Windows User's Guide: Software for Canonical Community Ordination (version 4.5)
C.J.F. ter Braak,Petr Šmilauer +1 more
TL;DR: Canoco as discussed by the authors is a software package for multivariate data analysis, with an emphasis on dimesional reduction (ordination), regression analysis, and the combination of the two, constrained ordination.
Book ChapterDOI
Detrended correspondence analysis: an improved ordination technique
M. O. Hill,Hugh G. Gauch +1 more
TL;DR: DCA consistently gives the most interpretable ordination results, but as always the interpretation of results remains a matter of ecological insight and is improved by field experience and by integration of supplementary environmental data for the vegetation sample sites.
Journal ArticleDOI
Putting things in even better order: the advantages of canonical correspondence analysis'
TL;DR: Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) is quickly becoming the most widely used gradient analysis technique in ecology as discussed by the authors, and it has been shown to perform well with skewed species distributions, with quantitative noise in species abundance data, with samples taken from unusual sampling designs, with highly intercorrelated environmental variables and with situations where not all of the factors determining species composition are known.