Title
Exposure to the Antifouling chemical Medotomidine Slows Development, Reduces Body Mass, and Delays Metamorphosis in Wood Frog (Lithobates Sylvaticus) Tadpoles
Student Authors
Janine M. Barr '15, Gettysburg College
Julia R. Palmucci '18, Gettysburg College
Olivia J. Lambert '19, Gettysburg College
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-31-2018
Department 1
Biology
Abstract
Antifouling chemicals have a long history of causing toxicity to aquatic organisms. We measured growth and developmental timing in wood frog tadpoles exposed to the antifouling chemical medetomidine (10 nM–10 μM) starting at two different developmental stages in static renewal experiments. For tadpoles hatched from egg masses and exposed for 3 weeks to 100 nM and 1 μM, head width/total body length ratio was significantly shorter compared to control. For field-collected tadpoles at Gosner stage 24–25 and exposed for 2 weeks, 1 and 10 μM medetomidine significantly slowed development as measured by Gosner stage. Medetomidine (1 and 10 μM) significantly increased the time to metamorphosis by over 16 days on average, and at 100 nM and 1 μM, it significantly decreased mass at metamorphosis. We discuss the possible effects of antifouling chemicals containing medetomidine on globally threatened groups such as amphibians.
DOI
10.1007/s11356-018-1204-2
Recommended Citation
Barr, Janine M., Julia R. Palamucchi, Olivia J. Lambert, and Peter P. Fong. "Exposure to the antifouling chemical medetomidine slows development, reduces body mass, and delays metamorphosis in wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) tadpoles." Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2018): 1-6.
Comments
Original version available online from the publisher at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-018-1204-2