W. James Fleming

Reproductive tracts from 89 3-year-old female river otters (Lutra canadensis), from Louisiana were examined. Eighteen of these were in a reproductive phase out of synchrony with the expected population norms. Eight of 32 otters had fewer embryos than corpora lutea, indicating intrauterine mortality in 25% of the sample. Chemical analyses of liver tissue from 57 otters revealed a low prevalence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and organochlorine pesticide contamination. These low levels of organochlorine compounds were not associated with atypical reproductive synchrony or intrauterine...

A DDT manufacturin/!; plant that operated on the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama dischar/!;ed DDT-laden effluent from 1947 to 1970 into a creek on Wheeler National Wildlife Refu/!;e. Seven to 9 years after the plant closed, high DDT, DDE, and DDD levels were reported in soils, river sediments, and fish in the area. Eleven of 27 mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) collected on the Refu/!;e during February 1979 had carcass DDE residues that exceeded levels associated with e/!;gshell thinning. DDE residues in a smaller number of mallards exceeded levels associated with egg breakage, poor...

Loss rates of the eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris Vieillot) from the Saugahatchee Wildlife Research Area (SRA) in central Alabama. increased with increased turkey population levels. After the expanding population stabilized, winter losses of adult and young turkeys aproximated 50 percent of the fall population. Poults captured as brood flocks in 1971, dispersed up to 6.44 km from their first summer range by the fall of 1972. Juvenile hens exhibited greater dispersal and variation in dispersal from their first summer range than did juvenile gobblers. Observation of...