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DOI

  • Veronika Bókony
    Hungarian Academy of Sciences
  • Bálint Üveges
    Lendület Centre for Agricultural Research, BudapestHungarian Academy of Sciences
  • Nikolett Ujhegyi
    Hungarian Academy of Sciences
  • Viktória Verebélyi
    University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover
  • Edina Nemesházi
    Hungarian Academy of Sciences
  • Olivér Csíkvári
    Budapest University of Technology and Economics
  • Attila Hettyey
    Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Many chemical pollutants have endocrine disrupting effects which can cause lifelong reproductive abnormalities in animals. Amphibians are the most threatened group of vertebrates, but there is little information on the nature and quantity of pollutants occurring in typical amphibian breeding habitats and on the reproductive capacities of amphibian populations inhabiting polluted areas. In this study we investigated the occurrence and concentrations of endocrine disrupting chemicals in the water and sediment of under-studied amphibian breeding habitats in natural, agricultural and urbanized landscapes. Also, we captured reproductively active common toads (Bufo bufo) from these habitats and let them spawn in a 'common garden' to assess among-population differences in reproductive capacity. Across 12 ponds, we detected 41 out of the 133 contaminants we screened for, with unusually high concentrations of glyphosate and carbamazepine. Levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nonylphenol and bisphenol-A increased with urban land use, whereas levels of organochlorine and triazine pesticides and sex hormones increased with agricultural land use. Toads from all habitats had high fecundity, fertilization rate and offspring viability, but the F1 generation originating from agricultural and urban ponds had reduced development rates and lower body mass both as larvae and as juveniles. Females with small clutch mass produced thicker jelly coat around their eggs if they originated from agricultural and urban ponds compared with natural ponds. These results suggest that the observed pollution levels did not compromise reproductive potential in toads, but individual fitness and population viability may be reduced in anthropogenically influenced habitats, perhaps due to transgenerational effects and/or costs of tolerance to chemical contaminants.

Keywords

  • Agriculture, Animals, Breeding, Bufo bufo/physiology, Cities, Ecosystem, Endocrine Disruptors/analysis, Environmental Monitoring, Female, Pesticides/analysis, Ponds, Reproduction/drug effects, Reproductive Health, Waste Water/analysis, Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1335-1345
Number of pages11
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume634
Early online date18 Apr 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2018
Externally publishedYes
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