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A commonly used pesticide known as atrazine can turn male frogs into females that are successfully able to reproduce, a new study finds.
While previous work has shown atrazine can cause sexual abnormalities in frogs, such as hermaphroditism (having both male and female sex organs), this study is the first to find that atrazine’s effects are long-lasting and can influence reproduction in amphibians.
The results suggest that atrazine, which is a weed killer used primarily on corn crops, could have potentially harmful effects on populations of amphibians, animals that are already experiencing a global decline, said study author Tyrone B. Hayes of the University of California, Berkeley. Atrazine is banned in Europe.
LiveScience - www.livescience.com
01 March 2010
R Rettner Photo Credit: T Hayes/UC Berkeley
01 March 2010
R Rettner Photo Credit: T Hayes/UC Berkeley
Cited and Related Journal Articles
>>> Atrazine induces complete feminization and chemical castration in male African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis). PNAS. Published online 01 March 2010.
>>> The cause of global amphibian declines: a developmental endocrinologist's perspective. Journal of Experimental Biology. 2010, 213: 921-933.
>>> Atrazine induces complete feminization and chemical castration in male African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis). PNAS. Published online 01 March 2010.
>>> The cause of global amphibian declines: a developmental endocrinologist's perspective. Journal of Experimental Biology. 2010, 213: 921-933.
More Frog News
>>> El Nino and a pathogen killed Costa Rican toad, study finds [cited journal article here]
>>> El Nino and a pathogen killed Costa Rican toad, study finds [cited journal article here]
Tests on carcasses confirm anthrax
Tests conducted on carcasses of wild boars found on the premises of the Kerala Police Academy here have confirmed anthrax.
Carcasses of seven wild boars, an eagle and a toddy cat were found on the campus of the academy at Ramavarmapuram, a part of which has thick vegetation.
. . . District Medical Officer V. Divakaran said that tests conducted at the Kerala Agricultural University’s College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences on carcasses revealed the animals had anthrax.
Mosquitoes -- Not Birds -- May Have Carried West Nile Virus Across U.S.. . . "In the past, people assumed that birds played the primary role in the spread of West Nile.
"However, the rapid spread of West Nile did not follow a leap-frog pattern or move north to south along migratory bird routes like we would expect," said senior author Jason L. Rasgon, PhD, assistant professor with Bloomberg School's Malaria Research Institute and the W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology.
"When you see such rapid movement, one of the main questions we ask is: 'What are the factors that mediated this jump?' Our study shows mosquitoes are a likely candidate."
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health - www.jhsph.edu
02 March 2010
Photo courtesy of JHSPH
02 March 2010
Photo courtesy of JHSPH
OTHER WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED NEWS
Photo courtesy of Reuters/U.S. Forest Service
What lies beneath? [southwestern Australia; includes video]
- Disease Kills NE Utah Bighorn Sheep [Daggett County, Utah, USA - Map It
]
- Fish and Game survey shows declining Lolo elk population
- River Po oil slick 'under control': Italian official
- Kenya, Tanzania in joint wildlife census
- Official Number of Protected Migratory Bird Species Climbs to More Than 1,000
- Animal rabies cases more than double in 2009 [South Dakota, USA]
Climate Change
- Understanding Global Climate Change Through New Breakthroughs in Polar Research [Census of Antarctic Marine Life website here]
- Ancient Corals Hold New Hope for Reefs [cited journal article here]
- Climate Change Likely Caused Polar Bear to Evolve Quickly
It Ain't All Bad News
WILDLIFE HEALTH RELATED PUBLICATIONS
Browse complete Digest publication library here.
Active reassortment of H9 influenza viruses between wild birds and live-poultry markets in KoreaArch Virol. 2010 Feb;155(2):229-41. Epub 2009 Dec 22.
HJ Moon et al.
The deadly chytrid fungus: a story of an emerging pathogen
PLoS Pathog. 2010 Jan 29;6(1):e1000550.
EB Rosenblum et al.
Avian communal roosts as amplification foci for West Nile virus in urban areas in northeastern United States
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2010 Feb;82(2):337-43.
MA Diuk-Wasser et al.
Emergence of diseases from wildlife reservoirs
Vet Pathol. 2010 Jan;47(1):34-9. [Special issue on Emerging Diseases and Global Surveillance]
Rhyan JC, Spraker TR.
Transit through the Flea Vector Induces a Pretransmission Innate Immunity Resistance Phenotype in Yersinia pestis
PLoS Pathog. 2010; 6(2): e1000783
V Vadyvaloo et al.
Book Review: Outbreak Investigations Around the World: Case Studies in Infectious Disease Field Epidemiology [book review]
Environ Health Perspect. 2010; 118:a138-a138. [free full-text available]
ML Wilson
