Adaptation to osmotic stress provides protection against ammonium nitrate in Pelophylax perezi embryos

The negative effects of pollution on amphibians are especially high when animals are additionally stressed by other environmental factors such as water salinity. However, the stress provoked by salinity may vary among populations because of adaptation processes. We tested the combined effect of a co...

ver descrição completa

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Ortiz-Santaliestra, Manuel E., Fernández, M. José, Lizana, Miguel, Marco, Adolfo
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Recursos:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:digitalcsic_::68b54a71face483689efdf0bd89a01a1
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/47333
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Amphibian declines
Intraspecific variation
Local adaptation
Multiple stressors
Salinity
Descrição
Resumo:The negative effects of pollution on amphibians are especially high when animals are additionally stressed by other environmental factors such as water salinity. However, the stress provoked by salinity may vary among populations because of adaptation processes. We tested the combined effect of a common fertilizer, ammonium nitrate (0–90.3 mg N–NO3NH4/L), and water salinity (0–2‰) on embryos of two Pelophylax perezi populations from ponds with different salinity concentrations. Embryos exposed to the fertilizer were up to 17% smaller than controls. Survival rates of embryos exposed to a single stressor were always below 10%. The exposure to both stressors concurrently increased mortality rate (>95%) of embryos from freshwater. Since the fertilizer was lethal only when individuals were stressed by the salinity, it did not cause lethal effects on embryos naturally adapted to saline environments. Our results underscore the importance of testing multiple stressors when analyzing amphibian sensitivity to environmental pollution.