Lead concentration in Peromyscus SPP. at a superfund site, Muncie, Indiana : an honors thesis (HONRS 499)

Abstract

I compared lead contamination in two deer mice (Peromyscus spp.) populations in Muncie, IN, Memorial Drive dumpsite (MDDS) and Miller Wildlife Area (MWA). Twelve deer mice were captured (5 at MDDS and 7 at MWA) and their organs were harvested for lead analysis. A Mann-Whitney U Test was run on the obtained lead concentrations and a P-value of 0.3709 was obtained. Lead concentrations in the deer mice at the two sites were not statistically different from each other (P > 0.05). This could be due to decreased lead uptake from soil to vegetation to deer mice at MDDS and also immigration of uncontaminated deer mice at MDDS. However, there could be a difference in Pb levels at the two sites, but the sample sizes were too small and had high variation. A more in-depth research study should be completed to obtain more accurate results.