Interpreting multi-stressor physiological and population response for wildlife risk assessment and conservation
Citation:
Awkerman, J. Interpreting multi-stressor physiological and population response for wildlife risk assessment and conservation. Gulf of Mexico Conference (GOMCON) 2024, Tampa, FL, February 19 - 22, 2024.
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation discusses physiological measures and population-level assessment methods to interpret multiple stressor impacts in amphibians as an indicator of ecosystem health for conservation applications. It will be presented in the session Ecosystem Health Assessments: Indicators, Approaches, and Examples Linking Science to Action
Description:
Impacts of multiple stressors on wildlife populations are challenging to evaluate given their heterogeneous distribution within the landscape as well as their unpredictable interactions. The ubiquity of some pesticides and anthropogenic contaminants results in potentially cryptic sublethal effects or agonistic effects from other environmental influences. Amphibians, for example, are threatened globally by habitat loss, some of which is driven by a changing climate, in addition to pesticide exposure, pathogens, and abiotic stressors. These effects are presented here both in terms of common physiological responses of impacted organisms as well as projected synergistic results at the population level. This review of stress-related biomarkers in amphibians highlights endpoints commonly linked to altered functional pathways and organismal effects. Some of these physiological measures are indicative of potential impacts to survival and development of amphibians and could be useful to anuran conservation and indicative of ecosystem health more broadly. These endpoints are also presented in larger framework of amphibian life cycle and ecology, in the context of anuran life stage sensitivity. Simulation of stochastic hydroregime conditions and pesticide application scenarios demonstrates the importance of timing and duration of the larval development phase in determining potential aquatic pesticide exposure. Results identify differential species vulnerability to pesticide application scenarios for more environmentally relevant ecological risk assessment. Development of these computational tools provides a means of projecting long-term impacts of multiple stressors on various wildlife species with different demographic and ecological traits.