Environmental Deterioration Increases Tadpole Vulnerability To Predation

Main Category: Veterinary
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 02 Jun 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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Anthropogenic changes to the environment are occurring at an unprecedented rate and scale. In many parts of the world, freshwater habitats are being degraded by an increase in salinity due to unsustainable human activities.

We experimentally exposed tadpoles of an Australian frog, Litoria ewingii, to saline conditions representative of those found in degraded habitats and found that salt-exposed tadpoles were more vulnerable to being captured by predatory dragonfly nymphs.

Our findings demonstrate that environmental contaminants, even at seemingly 'non-lethal' concentrations, can nevertheless impact an animal's chances of survival by increasing their susceptibility to potential predators.

Royal Society journal Biology Letters

Biology Letters publishes short, high-quality articles from across the biological sciences. The journal is characterised by stringent peer-review, rapid publication and broad dissemination of cutting-edge research communications.

www.publishing.royalsociety.org/biologyletters

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