Nutrient Pollution Drives Frog Deformities by Ramping Up Infections

[donsu]

http://bbsnews.net/article.php/20071223235929413


High levels of nutrients used in farming and ranching activities fuel parasite infections that have caused highly publicized frog deformities in ponds and lakes across North America, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The study showed increased levels of nitrogen and phosphorus cause sharp hikes in the abundance and reproduction of a snail species that hosts microscopic parasites known as trematodes, said Pieter Johnson of the University of Colorado, Boulder. The nutrients stimulate algae growth, increasing snail populations and the number of infectious parasites released by snails into ponds and lakes. The parasites subsequently form cysts in the developing limbs of tadpoles causing missing limbs, extra limbs and other severe malformations, Johnson said.

"This is the first study to show that nutrient enrichment drives the abundance of these parasites, increasing levels of amphibian infection and subsequent malformations," said Johnson. "The research has implications for both worldwide amphibian declines and for a wide array of diseases potentially linked to nutrient pollution, including cholera, malaria, West Nile virus and diseases affecting coral reefs."

-snip-

A recent study of more than 6,000 species of amphibians worldwide concluded that 32 percent were threatened and 43 percent were declining in population. While the causes range from habitat loss to emerging disease, the researchers are now exploring how nutrient pollution and limb malformations contribute to the pattern, Johnson said.
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and what is it doing to humans. . . . .

[Buzz Clik]

1. Fascinating.

There is also strong evidence that some pesticides also cause these deformities.

Amphibians are so incredibly susceptible to pollution because of their physiology and reproductive cycle.

:(

[jwirr]

2. And what is it doing to humans? I have always been convinced that

my daughter's severe mental retardation/seizures was caused by the high levels of farm chemicals in the water in our well which was only discovered long after it was too late for her. It was not one specific chemical, although nitrates were definitely a part of it, but a chemical soup that ran down the hill from a neighbors farm into our well whenever it rained - so a little of everything farmers use.

[LiberalEsto]

3. A woman I know has multiple myeloma

and she is convinced it's because she grew up on a farm in Virginia

[DeeDeeNY]

4. At least a study was done, so maybe something will change

Unlike genetically engineered food, with pestcides built right in, that does not get publicized enough --

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/geneticall7.cfm