Dr Rick Relyea, University of Pittsburgh professor of
biological sciences in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and
director of Pitt's Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology has come up with the
startling finding that weed killer, Roundup, can cause amphibians to change
shape. This is the first study to show
that herbicide can induce unintended morphological changes in a vertebrate
animal.
Predators usually induce tadpoles to change shape by
altering the stress hormones. Similar shape changes were noted when tadpoles
were exposed to Roundup. In wood frog and leopard frog tadpoles, Roundup
induced relatively deeper tails in the same direction and of the same magnitude
as the adaptive changes induced by dragonfly cues.
The data suggest that the herbicide might be
activating the tadpoles' developmental pathways used for antipredator
responses.
Dr Relyea says collectively, these discoveries suggest
that the world's most widely applied herbicide may have much further-reaching
effects on nontarget species than previously
considered.
Journal Reference:
Rick A. Relyea. New effects of Roundup on amphibians:
Predators reduce herbicide mortality; herbicides induce antipredator
morphology. Ecological
Applications, 2012; 22 (2): 634 DOI: 10.1890/11-0189.1
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