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.
Reference
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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