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INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE CAUSES OF AMPHIBIAN MALFORMATIONS IN THE LAKE CHAMPLAIN BASIN OF NEW ENGLAND (AWARDED PROJECT)
Citation:
Levey, R. INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE CAUSES OF AMPHIBIAN MALFORMATIONS IN THE LAKE CHAMPLAIN BASIN OF NEW ENGLAND (AWARDED PROJECT). 2001.
Impact/Purpose:
The product is the successful response to a request for assistance under the Regional Applied Research Effort program to conduct investigations into the possible causes of amphibian malformations in the Lake Champlain basin of New England. This issue is of general interest to the scientific community and the public and may be useful to state, tribal, and local governments in making resource management decisions.
Description:
The concurrent geographic extent and rate of amphibian malformations appear to have markedly increased above background levels in recent years in many states and Canadian provinces as documented by the North American Reporting Center for Amphibian Malformations (www.npwrc.usgs.gov/narcam/) . Recent studies in the Lake Champlain basin of Vermont by a group of researchers lead by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, have documented the occurrence of malformed northern leopard frogs (Rana pipiens). The typical malformation observed in these anurans is terminal truncations of the hindlimbs, similar to observations in Quebec (Ouellet et al 1997). Ongoing studies suggest that the elevated prevalence of malformations is real (Hoppe 1998) and that there may be several possible causes of malformations, including parasitic (trematode) infestations (Sessions and Ruth 1990; Johnson et al 1999), early developmental exposure to xenobiotic chemicals, such as pesticides and/or their metabolites, or naturally occurring chemicals (Gardiner and Hoppe 1999); ultraviolet (UV) radiation (Ankley et al 1998; ); and disease (Tietge et al 1996). References 1) Ankley GT, Tietge JE, DeFoe DL, Jensen KM, Holcombe GW, Durhan EJ, Diamond SA. 1998. Effects of ultraviolet light and methoprene on survival and development of Rana pipiens. Environ Toxicol Chem, 17:2530-2542 2) Gardiner D , Hoppe DM. 1999. Environmentally induced limb malformations in mink frogs (Rana septentrionalis). J Exp Zool, 284:207-16 3) Hoppe DM. 1998. History of Minnesota frog abnormalities: do recent findings represent a new phenomenon? Proceedings of the Midwest Declining Amphibians Conference, Milwaukee, WI, http://192.206.48.3/collect/vertzo/herp/Daptf/MWabst.html (abstract). 4) Johnson PTJ, Lunde KB, Ritchie EG, Launer AE. 1999. The effect of trematode infection on amphibian limb development and survivorship. Science, 284:802-804. 5) Ouellet M, Bonin J, Rodrigue J, DesGranges JL, Lair S. 1997. Hindlimb deformities (ectromelia, ectrodactyly) in free-living anurans from agricultural habitats. J Wildl Dis, 33:95-104. 6) Sessions SK, Ruth SB. 1990. Explanation for naturally occurring supernumerary limbs in amphibians. J of Exp Zool, 254:38-47 7) Tietge JE, Lannoo M, Beasley V. 1996. North American Amphibian Monitoring Program III - Deformed Frogs. Discussion of findings relative to meeting objectives. NAAMP III Online Paper: www.im.nbs.gov.naamp3/papers/60df.html.
