a b s t r a c t
Ecological risk assessments (ERAs) for mammals at chemically contaminated terrestrial sites conventionally
apply a food-chain model to draw inferences about a population’s reproductive condition. Very
recently though, the ERA field was advanced beyond the desktop level with the introduction of Rodent
Sperm Analysis (RSA), a direct health status assessment method for the actual chemically exposed site
receptor. Here, the sperm parameters of rodents (count, motility, morphology) of contaminated sites and
their habitat-matched noncontaminated reference locations are comparatively reviewed for a technically
supported indication of reproductive capability, ERA’s toxicological endpoint of greatest concern.
With the extent to which sperm parameters need to be impaired in order to compromise reproduction
being known, more definitive determinations are possible than with the food-chain model approach.
We sought to adapt the RSA method to the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), recognizing that
this commonly evaluated mammalian species of ERAs is one of a very few species that avails itself to
regularly being removed (through hunting) from the field. We conclude that the adaptation is viable,
although sperm motility and a few other measures routinely compiled in RSA applications cannot be
collected. In the pilot application, the deer population we assessed, with exposures to Superfund and
other sites of known contamination, was not found to have compromised reproduction. This finding is
consistent with RSA’s supporting theory as well as population census information. The outcomes of socalled
deer sperm analysis applications for herds exposed to one or more environmental stressors, have
the potential to serve as reliable indicators of reproductive status. Such outcomes also provide further
weight-of-evidence that suspected contamination is not associated with adverse ecological effects.