Av. Linzey et Dm. Grant, CHARACTERISTICS OF A WHITE-FOOTED MOUSE (PEROMYSCUS-LEUCOPUS) POPULATION INHABITING A POLYCHLORINATED-BIPHENYLS CONTAMINATED SITE, Archives of environmental contamination and toxicology, 27(4), 1994, pp. 521-526
Demographic characteristics of a white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucop
us) population inhabiting a woodland containing a low level of PCBs co
ntamination were compared to an uncontaminated reference site. Althoug
h population density was higher on the PCBs-contaminated grid, the pop
ulation exhibited greater temporal variability among years and had a h
igher number of transient animals. These population trends are consist
ent with those observed in structurally suboptimal habitats, indicatin
g that the PCBs-contaminated grid is functioning as a suboptimal habit
at. However, the data are not compelling enough to firmly conclude tha
t the differences are due to contamination rather than to undetected e
nvironmental variation between sites. If demographic differences due t
o contamination are slight, they will be difficult to detect against a
background of demographic variation resulting from subtle environment
al differences. We conclude that animals at this site experienced a le
vel of contamination that was below threshold for unequivocal detectio
n of demographic effects.