Pesticide exposure affects reproductive capacity of common toads (Bufo bufo) in a viticultural landscape

Amphibian populations are declining worldwide at alarming rates. Among the large variety of contributing stressors, chemical pollutants like pesticides have been identified as a major factor for this decline. Besides direct effects on aquatic and terrestrial amphibian stages, sublethal effects like...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecotoxicology (London) 2021-03, Vol.30 (2), p.213-223
Main Authors: Adams, Elena, Leeb, Christoph, Brühl, Carsten A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acute toxicity
Agricultural land
Agriculture
Amphibians
Animals
Aquatic reptiles
Biological fertilization
Breeding
Breeding ponds
Bufo bufo
Chemical pollutants
Chemical pollution
Contamination
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecological effects
Ecological risk assessment
Ecology
Ecotoxicology
Environment
Environmental Management
Environmental risk
Fecundity
Fertilization
Germany
Hatching
Landscape
Larva
Ova
Pesticides
Pesticides - toxicity
Pollutants
Ponds
Populations
Reproduction
Risk assessment
Spawning
Sublethal effects
Survival
Terrestrial environments
Toads
Toxicity
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Summary:Amphibian populations are declining worldwide at alarming rates. Among the large variety of contributing stressors, chemical pollutants like pesticides have been identified as a major factor for this decline. Besides direct effects on aquatic and terrestrial amphibian stages, sublethal effects like impairments in reproduction can affect a population. Therefore, we investigated the reproductive capacity of common toads ( Bufo bufo ) in the pesticide-intensive viticultural landscape of Palatinate in Southwest Germany along a pesticide gradient. In a semi-field study, we captured reproductively active common toad pairs of five breeding ponds with different pesticide contamination level and kept them in a net cage until spawning. Toads from more contaminated ponds showed an increased fecundity (more eggs) but decreased fertilization rates (fewer hatching tadpoles) as well as lower survival rates and reduced size in Gosner stage 25, suggesting that the higher exposed populations suffer from long-term reproductive impairments. In combination with acute toxicity effects, the detected sublethal effects, which are mostly not addressed in the ecological risk assessment of pesticides, pose a serious threat on amphibian populations in agricultural landscapes.
ISSN:0963-9292
1573-3017
DOI:10.1007/s10646-020-02335-9