Effects of Salinity on Survivorship of Wood Frog (Rana sylvatica) Tadpoles

Potential for local adaptation in response to an anthropogenic agent of selection: effects of road deicing salts on amphibian embryonic survival and development

“…All life stages of amphibians have been shown to be severely affected by road deicing salts, with increased concentrations of NaCl causing egg, larval and adult mortality and impaired growth and development (Viertel 1999;Turtle 2000;Dougherty and Smith 2006;Karraker 2007;Collins and Russell 2009;Karraker and Ruthig 2009;Langhans et al 2009;Petranka and Doyle 2010;Duff et al 2011;Harless et al 2011;Alexander et al 2012), similar to results found for T. granulosa eggs in this study. The effect of MgCl 2 on amphibians is less well understood, despite its now prevalent use (National Transportation Research Board 2007;Cunningham et al 2008).…”

Developmental and Evolutionary History Affect Survival in Stressful Environments

“…While gradual acclimation of low salinity levels have led to increased tolerance in some amphibians (e.g., [51] ) it has also led to increased susceptibility in others [52] , and is less environmentally relevant to examining the sudden spikes of salinity seen in habitats due to road deicing salt application. In addition, while the salt concentrations used were typical for those immediately resulting from deicing events [48] , [53] , they were also well below recorded NaCl and MgCl 2 LD-50 values for other amphibian larvae [37] , [54] , [55] .…”

“…Embryonic salinity is known to affect the post-hatching survival, growth and development of marine and estuarine invertebrates, such as barnacles [23] , crabs [15] , [25] , [27] , horseshoe crabs [26] and tunicates [28] . While all life history stages of amphibians have, individually, repeatedly been found to be extremely sensitive to salt [21] , [47] , [54] , [55] , [60] – [68] , with a few notable exceptions such as Fejervarya cancrivora [69] , [70] , the relative sensitivity of each life history stage, and potential down-stream effects of salinity from one stage to the next, have been less studied. In one of the only other studies on amphibians to examine embryonic carry-over effects of salinity, frog larvae ( Lithobates sylvaticus ) reared in salt water (NaCl-based) as eggs had reduced survival in salt compared to larvae that were reared in freshwater as eggs [47] .…”

Occurrence of Amphibians in Saline Habitats: A Review and Evolutionary Perspective

“…Gadow (1901) stated that ''Common salt is poison to the Amphibia,'' and there is no doubt that amphibians are indeed osmotically challenged organisms due to their permeable skin and eggs (Shoemaker and Nagy 1977). A plethora of studies have found that salt can lead to increased mortality, developmental deformities, physiological stress, and the alteration of growth and development at (e.g., Ely 1944;Ruibal 1959;Beebee 1985;Padhye and Ghate 1992;Viertel 1999;Turtle 2000;Chinathamby et al 2006;Dougherty and Smith 2006;Collins and Russell 2009;Karraker and Ruthig 2009;Langhans et al 2009;Chambers 2011;Duff et al 2011;Harless et al 2011;Alexander et al 2012;Hopkins et al 2013a,b;Hua and Pierce 2013) and across different life-history stages (i.e., carry-over effects; Petranka and Doyle 2010;Wu et al 2012;Hopkins et al 2014). This general intolerance has been demonstrated repeatedly (and as such will not be a focus of this review) and, perhaps as a result, there are no truly marine-or salinespecialist amphibian species.…”