Small mammals

Nonetheless, birds have higher metabolic rates than mammals of similar size. Most small mammals reduce energy costs by seeking protected environments birds spend much of their time exposed. Also, because fat is heavy, the need to fly restricts a bird s ability to store energy. Even with a high-protein diet, a bird must eat as much as 3(1 percent of its body... 

Ambrose and Norr (1993) and Tieszen and Fagre (1993) have shown that 5 C of carbonate in bone apatite (6 C,p) is the most accurate measure of the whole-diet composition (Ambrose and Norr 1993 28). The actual 5 C of total diet is related to that of apatite by an isotopic offset (fractionation) which Ambrose and Norr estimate to be 9.5 0.6%o. Other estimates range from 9.6 0.1%o for small mammals on controlled diets (DeNiro and Epstein 1978) to 12%o for large herbivores on natural diets (Lee-Thorp et al., 1989). The origin of this offset is of some concern to us here. We can only use 5 Cap as a measure of total diet if we know A,p.j,e, and also know that this fractionation is a constant, at least for a given species, and does not itself depend on the quality of the diet. 

Ideally, when small mammals are being evaluated, the treated area beyond the test site should be large enough that any recruitment of study species to the test site will be from a treated area. It is not possible to cover this recruitment area for most bird species and it is often impractical for small rodents, but should be considered. Owing to abundance, home range and recruitment dynamics, small passerines and small rodents are often selected as test species. 

Biotic Transport Biotic transport can be defined as the actions of plants and animals that result in the transport of a radioactive material or other substance from a waste site to locations where it can enter pathways that may result in exposure to humans. Small mammals are ubiquitous and inhabit areas containing radioactive contamination or radioactive waste sites. Mammals inhabiting these areas may become contaminated with americium by consuming contaminated soil or plants and disturb americium-contaminated soil through their burrowing and excavating activities. These animals may therefore affect the distribution of americium within the waste site or transport americium to previously uncontaminated areas. In addition, small mammals may be consumed by animals higher in the food chain such as hawks and coyotes, which would add to the dispersal of americium from disposal areas. However, results of... 

Bennett K, Biggs J, Fresquez P. 1996. Radionuclide contaminant analysis of small mammals, plants and sediments within Mortandad Canyon, 1994. Los Alamos, NM Los Alamos National Laboratory. LA-13104-MS UC-908 UC-902 contract no. W-7504-ENG-36 DE-96-007-463. 

Soviet Union. The natural reservoirs are ticks, rodents, and small mammals. Ticks remain... 

It is normally found in Canada, the northern United States, and parts of Central Asia. The natural reservoirs are ticks, small mammals, and birds. Ticks remain infective for life. Does not produce disease in animals. This is a biosafety level 3 agent. It does not survive outside a host. 

Cooke, J. A. and M.S. Johnson. 1996. Cadmium in small mammals. Pages 377-388 in W.N. Beyer, G.H. Heinz, and A.W. Redmon-Norwood (eds.). Environmental Contaminants in Wildlife Interpreting Tissue Concentrations. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL. 

Shore, R.F. and P.E.T. Douben. 1994. The ecological significance of cadmium intake and residues in terrestrial small mammals. Ecotoxicol. Environ. Safety 29 101-112. 

Talmage, S.S. and B.T. Walton. 1991. Small mammals as monitors of environmental contaminants. Rev. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 119 47-145. 

Taylor, F.G., Jr., and P.D. Parr. 1978. Distribution of chromium in vegetation and small mammals adjacent to cooling towers. Jour. Term. Acad Sci. 53 87-91. 

Pascoe, G.A., R.J. Blanchet, and G. Linder. 1994. Bioavailability of metals and arsenic to small mammals at a mining waste-contaminated wetland. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 27 44-50. 

Read, H.J. and M.H. Martin. 1993. The effect of heavy metals on populations of small mammals from woodlands in Avon (England) with particular emphasis on metal concentrations in Sorex araneus L. and Sorex minutus L. Chemosphere 27 2197-2211. 

Elevated blood protoporphyrin IX activity resulting from lead inhibition of heme synthetase has been documented for humans and small mammals (Peter and Strunc 1983) and for many species of birds (Anders et al. 1982 Carlson and Nielsen 1985 Friend 1985 Franson et al. 1986 Beyer et al. 1988) recovery to normal levels occurs in a lead-free environment in 2 to 7 weeks. Franson et al. (1986) endorsed the blood protoporphyrin IX technique instead of ALAD as a means of measuring lead stress because of its comparative simplicity and lower cost. 

Proximity to the smokestacks of metal smelters is positively associated with increased levels of lead in the hair (manes) of horses and in tissues of small mammals, and is consistent with the results of soil and vegetation analyses (USEPA 1972). Lead concentrations were comparatively high in the hair of older or chronically impaired horses (USEPA 1972). However, tissues of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) collected near a zinc smelter did not contain elevated levels of lead (Sileo and Beyer 1985). Among small mammals near a metal smelter, blood ALAD activity was reduced in the white-footed mouse but normal in others, e.g., the short-tailed shrew (Beyer et al. 1985). The interaction effects of lead components in smelter emissions with other components, such as zinc, cadmium, and arsenic, are unresolved (USEPA 1972) and warrant additional research. 

Chmiel, K.M. and R.M. Harrison. 1981. Lead content of small mammals at a roadside site in relation to the pathways of exposure. Sci. Total Environ. 17 145-154. 

Clark, D.R., Jr. 1979. Lead concentrations bats vs. terrestrial small mammals collected near a major highway. Environ. Sci. Technol. 13 338-341. 

Clark, D.R., Jr., K.S. Foerster, C.M. Mam, and R.L. Hothem. 1992. Uptake of environmental contaminants by small mammals in pickleweed habitats at San Francisco Bay, California. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 22 389-396. 

Cooke, J.A., S.M. Andrews, and M.S. Johnson. 1990a. Lead, zinc, cadmium and fluoride in small mammals from contaminated grassland established on fluorspar tailings. Water Air Soil Pollut. 51 43-54. 

Getz, L.L., L.B. Best, and M. Prather. 1977a. Lead in urban and rural song birds. Environ. Pollut. 12 235-239. Getz, L.L., L. Vemer, and M. Prather. 1977b. Lead concentrations in small mammals living near highways. Environ. Pollut. 13 151-157. 

Goldsmith, C.D. and P.F. Scanlon. 1977. Lead levels in small mammals and selected invertebrates associated with highways of different traffic densities. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 17 311-316. 

Kisseberth, W.C., J.P. Sundberg, R.W. Nyboer, J.D. Reynolds, S.C. Kasten, and V.R. Beasley. 1984. Industrial lead contamination of an Illinois wildlife refuge and indigenous small mammals. Jour. Amer. Vet. Med. Assn. 185 1309-1313. 

Ma, W.C., W. Denneman, and J. Faber. 1991. Hazardous exposure of ground-living small mammals to cadmium and lead in contaminated terrestrial ecosystems. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 20 266-270. 

Raymond, R.B. and R.B. Forbes. 1975. Lead in hair of urban and rural small mammals. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 13 551-553. 

Roberts, R.D., M.S. Johnson, and M. Hutton. 1978. Lead contamination of small mammals from abandoned metalliferous mines. Environ. Pollut. 15 61-69. 

Sheppard, C.R.C. and D.J. Bellamy. 1974. Pollution of the Mediterranean around Naples. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 5 42-44. Shore, R.F. 1995. Predicting cadmium, lead and fluoride levels in small mammals from soil residues and by species-species extrapolation. Environ. Pollut. 88 333-340. 

Smith, GJ. and O.J. Rongstad. 1982. Small mammal heavy metal concentrations from mined and control sites. Environ. Pollut. 28A 121-134. 

Stansley, W. and D.E. Roscoe. 1996. The uptake and effects of lead in small mammals and frogs at a trap and skeet range. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 30 220-226. 

Scanlon, P.F. 1987. Heavy metals in small mammals in roadside environments implications for food chains. Sci. Total Environ. 59 317-323. 

Diet and proximity to tributyltin affect butyltin concentrations in waterfowl (Kannan et al. 1998a). Seaducks that fed mainly on molluscs had higher concentrations of butyltins than predatory birds feeding on hsh, other birds, and small mammals. Continued exposure of birds to butyltin compounds occurs in harbors and marinas where tributyltin is used on vessels >25 m in length (Kannan et al. 1998a). 

Carbamate esters of zinc, zineb, and ziram are carcinogenic and teratogenic in animals, but this is attributed to the action of the carbamate esters and not to zinc (Elinder 1986). Results of studies with small mammals showed zinc to be cocarcinogenic with 4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide on oral cancer, and with N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea on brain cancer (Leonard and Gerber 1989). 

Albers, P.H., G. Linder, and J.D. Nichols. 1990. Effects of tillage practices and carbofuran exposure on small mammals. Jour. Wildl. Manage. 54 135-142. 

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