Sublethal effects on wood frogs chronically exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of two neonicotinoid insecticides

Robinson, Stacey A.; Richardson, Sarah D.; Dalton, Rebecca L.; Maisonneuve, France; Trudeau, Vance L.; Pauli, Bruce D.; Lee-Jenkins, Stacey S.Y.

doi:10.1002/etc.3739

Cited by 46 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…This is likely attributable to spray drift from nearby agricultural activities, but even at the St. Denis National Wildlife Area there is prescribed use of herbicides to control alien plant species (Environment Canada ). However, we found little evidence for negative effects of the most commonly detected pesticides here, namely 2,4‐D, MCPA, and imidacloprid (Relyea ; Johnasson et al ; Robinson et al ; Lee‐Jenkins and Robinson ). Without detailed, field‐based investigation into the single and combined effects of chronic agrochemical exposure to wood frogs, we caution that these results are preliminary and correlative.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Detecting Amphibians in Agricultural Landscapes Using Environmental DNA Reveals the Importance of Wetland Condition

Ruso

Morrissey

Hogan

et al. 2019

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Amphibians are declining worldwide, in part because of large‐scale degradation of habitat from agriculture and pervasive pathogens. Yet a common North American amphibian, the wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus), ranges widely and persists in agricultural landscapes. Conventional survey techniques rely on visual encounters and dip‐netting efforts, but detectability limits the ability to test for the effects of environmental variables on amphibian habitat suitability. We used environmental DNA to determine the presence of wood frogs and an amphibian pathogen (ranavirus) in Prairie Pothole wetlands and investigated the effects of 32 water quality, wetland habitat, and landscape‐level variables on frog presence at sites representing different degrees of agricultural intensity. Several wetland variables influenced wood frog presence, the most influential being those associated with wetland productivity (i.e., nutrients), vegetation buffer width, and proportion of the surrounding landscape that is comprised of other water bodies. Wood frog presence was positively associated with higher dissolved phosphorus (>0.4 mg/L), moderate dissolved nitrogen (0.1–0.2 mg/L), lower chlorophyll a (≤15 µg/L), wider vegetation buffers (≥10 m), and more water on the landscape (≥0.25). These results highlight the effects of environmental factors at multiple scales on the presence of amphibians in this highly modified landscape—namely the importance of maintaining wetland water quality, vegetation buffers, and surrounding habitat heterogeneity. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:2750–2763. © 2019 SETAC

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Detecting Amphibians in Agricultural Landscapes Using Environmental DNA Reveals the Importance of Wetland Condition

Ruso

Morrissey

Hogan

et al. 2019

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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“…The frogs had been exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations (1, 10, and 100 mg/L) of imidacloprid (Admire [240 g/L of imidacloprid; Bayer CropScience; CAS no. Measured concentrations generally increased throughout the 6-wk exposure period; however, for simplicity we present the results using nominal concentrations (Robinson et al 2017; also see the Supplemental Data, Table S1). 153719-23-4]) from Gosner stages 25 to 27 to Gosner stage 46 (Gosner 1960) in outdoor mesocosms (Robinson et al 2017).…”

Section: Amphibian Husbandrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of these studies have been acute lethality experiments in which exposure and effect concentrations (range in mg/L; Gibbons et al 2014) exceeded environmentally relevant concentrations (range from ng/L up to 320 mg/L; Anderson et al 2013;Main et al 2014Main et al , 2016Morrissey et al 2015;Smalling et al 2015;Struger et al 2017). Previous work conducted in our laboratory using outdoor mesocosms found that wood frog tadpoles (Lithobates sylvaticus) chronically exposed throughout development to environmentally relevant concentrations of imidacloprid or thiamethoxam had increased survival and a minor delay in completing metamorphosis compared with controls (Robinson et al 2017). Previous work conducted in our laboratory using outdoor mesocosms found that wood frog tadpoles (Lithobates sylvaticus) chronically exposed throughout development to environmentally relevant concentrations of imidacloprid or thiamethoxam had increased survival and a minor delay in completing metamorphosis compared with controls (Robinson et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of neonicotinoids on putative escape behavior of juvenile wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) chronically exposed as tadpoles

Lee-Jenkins

Robinson

2018

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Neonicotinoids are water‐soluble neurotoxic insecticides widely used in agriculture that are being detected in nontarget aquatic environments. Nontarget aquatic wildlife, such as amphibians, may be at risk of exposure. Studies using larval stages suggest neonicotinoids are a minor concern to amphibians; however, behavioral effects manifesting later in life are not often considered. Behavioral endpoints could further our understanding of potential sublethal neurotoxic effects after exposure has ended. Using juvenile wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus), we investigated the effects of chronic larval exposure to 3 concentrations (1, 10, and 100 μg/L) of formulations containing imidacloprid or thiamethoxam on the putative escape response to a simulated heron attack. We found that control frogs actively responded (i.e., moved or jumped) to the simulated predator attack but frogs exposed to imidacloprid at 10 and 100 μg/L were less likely to respond. The exposed frogs, specifically from the imidacloprid treatment at 10 μg/L (tendency at 100 μg/L) were less likely to leave the attack area compared with controls. However, frogs used refuge similarly among all treatments. Finally, there were no differences in locomotor performance, as measured by total number of jumps and distance traveled during a trial among treatments. In conclusion, our study suggests that exposure to neonicotinoids during amphibian larval development may affect a juvenile frog's ability to perceive or respond to a predator, potentially increasing their vulnerability to predation. Future studies should validate and explore this potential effect further. Environ Toxicol Chem 2018;37:3115–3123. © 2018 Crown in the right of Canada. Published by Wiley Periodicals Inc. on behalf of SETAC.

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“…, Sawatzky , Robinson et al. ). This work was conducted by Laboratory Services at Environment Canada's National Wildlife Research Centre.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wetland buffers are no substitute for landscape‐scale conservation

Sawatzky

Fahrig

2019

Ecosphere

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Wetlands in farmland are at risk of contamination by fertilizers and pesticides. One recommendation for reducing wetland contamination is to maintain a buffer of contiguous uncropped land around the wetland (a wetland buffer). Many agricultural water protection policies around the world recommend 5 to 50‐m wide uncropped buffers around water bodies, but it is unclear how large wetland buffers must be to effectively protect against these chemicals. In addition, it is unclear whether wetland buffers have similar—or stronger—effects on fertilizer and pesticide contamination than reducing the amount of cropped land within the larger landscape context around wetlands. Our study, conducted across 37 wetlands in eastern Ontario, Canada, addressed the following questions: (1) Does increasing buffer width, or increasing the amount of contiguous uncropped land within recommended buffer width guidelines, reduce nutrient and pesticide levels in agricultural wetlands? (2) Does increasing uncropped land cover in the broader landscape reduce nutrient and pesticide levels in agricultural wetlands? and (3) What is the relative importance of buffer size and landscape‐scale uncropped cover for reducing nutrient and pesticide levels in agricultural wetlands? A rigorous site selection process was employed to minimize the correlation between buffer size and landscape‐scale uncropped cover, minimize spatial gradients in these predictor variables, and minimize variation in potentially confounding variables. We obtained nutrient and pesticide data by collecting water samples from each wetland under similar weather conditions in June–July 2015. Nitrate concentrations were measured using ion chromatography, and atrazine and neonicotinoid (pesticide) concentrations using a combination of high‐performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. We found that nitrate, atrazine, and neonicotinoid concentrations in study wetlands were unaffected by wetland buffer size. However, concentrations of each chemical decreased with uncropped land cover in the surrounding 150 to 300‐m radius landscapes. To effectively protect water in agricultural wetlands from contamination by nitrate‐based fertilizers and atrazine or neonicotinoid pesticides, we recommend either increasing the policy‐recommended width of wetland buffers to at least 150 m, or abandoning the buffer paradigm in favor of landscape‐scale conservation.

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Sublethal effects on wood frogs chronically exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of two neonicotinoid insecticides

Cited by 46 publications

References 57 publications

Detecting Amphibians in Agricultural Landscapes Using Environmental DNA Reveals the Importance of Wetland Condition

Detecting Amphibians in Agricultural Landscapes Using Environmental DNA Reveals the Importance of Wetland Condition

Effects of neonicotinoids on putative escape behavior of juvenile wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) chronically exposed as tadpoles

Wetland buffers are no substitute for landscape‐scale conservation

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