Parasite infection linked to amphibian malformations in the western
United States
A
collaborative effort among several university and USGS scientists has
shown that malformations in amphibians in several western lakes were related
to the presence of infections caused by a parasite (Ribeiroia Ondatrae)
and were not related to a variety of other suspected factors, including
the presence of pesticides in the aquatic environment. The team of scientists
analyzed 12,000 individual amphibians representing 11 different species
and, for the first time, have linked limb malformations to parasite infections
on a regional scale. Amphibian health is intricately dependent on the
health of the aquatic environment and therefore amphibians are excellent
indicator organisms of environmental contamination. The lack of a relation
between pesticides and amphibian limb malformation found in this study
has removed lingering doubts that the two were linked and enables scientists
and resource managers to more accurately focus their continuing efforts
to find causal mechanisms related to amphibian limb malformations and
amphibian health in general.
References
- Johnson, P.T.J., Lunde, K.B., Thurman, E.M., Ritchie, E.G., Wray,
S.N., Sutherland, D.R., Kapfer, J.M., Frest, T.J., Bowerman, Jay, and
Blaustein, A.R., 2002,
- Parasite
(Ribeiroia ondatrae) infection linked to amphibian malformations
in the western United States: Ecological Monographs, v. 72, no.
2., p. 151-168.
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