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Pesticide Uptake Across the Amphibian Dermis Through Soil and Overspray Exposures
Citation:
VanMeter, R., D. Glinski, Matt Henderson, W. Garrison, Mike Cyterski, AND Tom Purucker. Pesticide Uptake Across the Amphibian Dermis Through Soil and Overspray Exposures. ARCHIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION AND TOXICOLOGY. Springer, New York, NY, , online, (2015).
Impact/Purpose:
Published in Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.
Description:
For terrestrial amphibians, accumulation ofpesticides through dermal contact is a primary route ofexposure in agricultural landscapes and may be contributingto widespread amphibian declines. To show pesticidetransfer across the amphibian dermis at permitted labelapplication rates, our study was designed to measure pesticidebody burdens after two simulated exposure scenarios.We compared direct exposures, where amphibianswere present when spraying occurred, to indirect exposures,where amphibians were exposed to soils after pesticideapplication. During summer 2012, we reared barking(Hyla gratiosa) and green treefrogs (H. cinerea) through60–90 days post-metamorphosis at a United States EnvironmentalProtection Agency research laboratory. Wetested exposure for 8 h to five pesticide active ingredients(imidacloprid, atrazine, triadimefon, fipronil, or pendimethalin)in glass aquaria lined with soil in the laboratory.We quantified total pesticide body burden and soil concentrationsusing liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.All individuals in both treatments had measurable body burdens at the end of the study. A randomized block design analysis of variance (n = 18) showed that body burdens (p = 0.03) and bioconcentration factors (BCFs) (p = 0.01) were significantly greater in the direct overspraytreatment relative to the indirect soil spray treatment for both species and tested pesticides. BCFs ranged from 0.1 to 1.16 and from 0.013 to 0.78 in the direct and indirecttreatments, respectively. Our study shows dermal uptake for multiple pesticides from both direct spray and indirect soil exposures and provides empirical support for thedegree to which terrestrial phase amphibians have higher body burdens after overspray pesticide exposure.
