SREL Reprint #2277

Exposure to coal ash impacts swimming performance and predator avoidance in larval bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana)

Sandra M. Raimondo, Christopher L. Rowe, and Justin D. Congdon

The University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, P.O. Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802, USA

Introduction: Recent concern about apparent declines in amphibian populations in many parts of the world (Blaustein et al., 1994; Carey and Bryant, 1995) suggests that there is an urgent need for information about how amphibians are impacted by pollutants. Amphibians have thus become widely used as environmental monitors of effects of water-borne pollutants, and have been found to be lethally impacted by petroleum products (Mahaney, 1994), acidification (Rowe et al., 1992; Sadinski and Dunson, 1992), insecticides (Berrill et al., 1993, 1994), and various metals (Freda, 1991). However, anuran populations may also be impacted sublethally by heavy metals or organic compounds that accumulate in their tissues (Hall and Mulhern, 1984), and that sometimes result in morphological or physiological changes (Tyler, 1989; Alvarez et al., 1994; Rowe et al., 1996, 1998).

SREL Reprint #2277

Raimondo, S.M., C. Rowe, and J.C. Congdon. 1998. Exposure to coal ash impacts swimming performance and predator avoidance in larval bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana). Journal of Herpetology 32:289-292.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).