Validation of water-borne cortisol and corticosterone in tadpoles: Recovery rate from an acute stressor, repeatability, and evaluating rearing methods

Forsburg, Zachery R.; Goff, Cory B.; Perkins, Hannah R.; Robicheaux, Joseph A.; Almond, Grayson F.; Gabor, Caitlin R.

doi:10.1016/j.ygcen.2019.06.007

Cited by 30 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…These results indicate that it is possible to explore environmental and ecological stressors on populations over time using non-invasive measures of GCs, however, it is important that these methods are biologically validated for any new study species. Non-invasive GC monitoring has been biologically validated for several amphibian species (reviewed by Narayan, 2013;Baugh et al, 2018;Forsburg et al, 2019). Validation involves subjecting the animal to an ACTH challenge and/or an alternative physical stressor (e.g., capture-handling; Narayan et al, 2012a,b) and obtaining the appropriate non-invasive sample (e.g., feces, water, urine, saliva, skin swab) before and after the hormonal stimulation test with the prediction that GCs are elevated after exposure to an exogenous hormone.…”

Section: Using Non-invasive Methods Vs Plasma or Whole-body Homogenamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A water-borne method of measuring GCs previously validated for fish (Scott and Ellis, 2007), was recently validated for use with amphibians (Gabor et al, 2013(Gabor et al, , 2016Baugh et al, 2018;Forsburg et al, 2019). This method relies on extracting steroid hormones passively diffused into water through the gills, urine, skin, and feces (Scott et al, 2008).…”

Section: Validation Of Water-borne Corticosterone Profilingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Corticosterone release rates were significantly higher after an ACTH challenge compared to the non-injected control individuals, though corticosterone release rates were not significantly different between the ACTH and saline-injected individuals (likely due to not using high enough concentration of ACTH). Additionally, this method has been pharmacologically validated via ACTH challenges in eastern newts (Notophthalmus viridescens;Reedy et al, 2014) and Rio Grande leopard frogs (Rana berlandieri); Forsburg et al, 2019), and biologically validated using a stressor in E. tonkawae (Gabor et al, 2016), yellow-bellied toad (Bombina variegata), European tree frog (Hyla arborea; Gabor et al, 2017), spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum; Charbonnier et al, 2018), Gulf Coast toad (Incilius nebulifer; Gabor et al, 2019), and red-backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus; Novarro et al, 2018). Across all the species examined there is quite a bit of variation in average corticosterone release rates with salamanders showing the lowest values, specifically P. cinereus followed by E. nana.…”

Section: Validation Of Water-borne Corticosterone Profilingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Across all the species examined there is quite a bit of variation in average corticosterone release rates with salamanders showing the lowest values, specifically P. cinereus followed by E. nana. Nonetheless, water-borne measures of corticosterone show moderate to high repeatability for R. berlandieri when measured every hour for 6 h repeatedly (Forsburg et al, 2019). Baugh et al (2018) pharmacologically validated water-borne hormones for Túngara frogs (Physalaemus pustulosus) and demonstrated that water-borne hormone values, measured using EIA, are correlated with those measured using high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS).…”

Section: Validation Of Water-borne Corticosterone Profilingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The primary aim of this mini-review is to explore the applications, benefits, and limitations of non-invasive methods for measuring corticosterone (the main GC in amphibians: Idler, 1972;Forsburg et al, 2019) for ecological and conservation research. Given the highly variable nature of GC levels across species and study systems (Hau et al, 2016), GCs alone cannot be used as stress indicators and the interpretation of whether a population is stressed certainly requires the input of multivariate factors including repeated measures, evaluation of stress response, recovery, body condition, sex ratio, reproductive rates, time period, field site demographics, and climate (Sapolsky et al, 2000;Dickens and Romero, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Non-invasive Methods for Measuring and Monitoring Stress Physiology in Imperiled Amphibians

et al. 2019

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Global climate change is negatively impacting global biodiversity and ectothermic vertebrates, with amphibians being the most imperiled vertebrate taxa. Increased mean global atmospheric temperatures, high rates of habitat degradation, and exposure to infectious diseases, such as chytridiomycosis, have contributed to population declines and extinctions of rare and endangered amphibian species. Field-based monitoring of physiological endocrine traits can help determine the sub-lethal effects of environmental stressors and provide early alerts when populations are chronically stressed. Recent advances in amphibian stress endocrinology include the development and use of non-invasive methods to quantify the glucocorticoid, or stress biomarker, corticosterone. Non-invasive methods, such as urinary, skin and buccal swabs, and water-borne hormone monitoring methods (suited for terrestrial and aquatic dwelling species), are available to quantify baseline and short-term physiological stress responses of amphibians under field settings. In this review, we illustrate, by using two case studies of aquatic and terrestrial amphibian species, the applications of non-invasive corticosterone monitoring methods to advance the ecological knowledge and conservation of imperiled amphibian species, discuss the limitations of these methods, and provide future directions for the use of non-invasive hormone monitoring methods. We highlight the use of non-invasive field endocrinology methods to monitor the impacts of environmental stressors on the physiology of amphibians, which can be applied to advance ecological research, conservation, and management of imperiled species.

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Section: Using Non-invasive Methods Vs Plasma or Whole-body Homogenamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Validation Of Water-borne Corticosterone Profilingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Validation Of Water-borne Corticosterone Profilingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Validation Of Water-borne Corticosterone Profilingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Non-invasive Methods for Measuring and Monitoring Stress Physiology in Imperiled Amphibians

et al. 2019

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Effects of a Neonicotinoid Insecticide and Population Density on Behavior and Development of Wood Frogs (Rana sylvatica)

Bouffard

Careau

Robinson

et al. 2022

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Amphibians have been facing global declines over the last decades from direct and indirect effects of anthropogenic activities. A contributor to declines is waterway contamination from agricultural runoffs of pesticides such as neonicotinoids. Beyond direct and indirect effects of the pesticide, few studies have investigated the possible interactions between neonicotinoids and natural environmental stressors across larval development, which could alter the strength and direction of observed neonicotinoid effects. The present study used a fully crossed design to investigate how a concentration of imidacloprid (a neonicotinoid; 10 µg/L) measured in surface waters interacted with low and high population densities (0.33 and 1 tadpole/L, respectively), an important environmental stressor, to influence behavior and development across metamorphosis in wood frogs (Rana sylvatica), known to breed in agricultural landscapes. Behaviors were measured in the absence and presence of predation cues using open‐field tests at three distinct developmental stages, up to the metamorph stage. We found that imidacloprid did not interact with population density or independently affect behaviors in the absence of predation cues. However, individuals raised at high density compared with low density were more active at an early developmental stage but less active at metamorphic climax. Furthermore, both density and imidacloprid independently decreased the natural freezing response of tadpoles to predation cues. Finally, we found that distance traveled in the open‐field test was weakly repeatable between aquatic stages but not repeatable across metamorphosis, a pattern that was not affected by treatments. The present study provides novel insights on the ecotoxicology of imidacloprid in the presence of a natural stressor, highlighting the importance of including behavioral assays and natural stressors in studies of amphibian ecotoxicology. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:2968–2980. © 2022 SETAC

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Does stress make males? An experiment on the role of glucocorticoids in anuran sex reversal

Bókony,

Kalina,

Ujhegyi

et al. 2023

J Exp Zool Pt A

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Environmentally sensitive sex determination may help organisms adapt to environmental change but also makes them vulnerable to anthropogenic stressors, with diverse consequences for population dynamics and evolution. The mechanisms translating environmental stimuli to sex are controversial: although several fish experiments supported the mediator role of glucocorticoid hormones, results on some reptiles challenged it. We tested this hypothesis in amphibians by investigating the effect of corticosterone on sex determination in agile frogs (Rana dalmatina). This species is liable to environmental sex reversal whereby genetic females develop into phenotypic males. After exposing tadpoles during sex determination to waterborne corticosterone, the proportion of genetic females with testes or ovotestes increased from 11% to up to 32% at 3 out of 4 concentrations. These differences were not statistically significant except for the group treated with 10 nM corticosterone, and there was no monotonous dose‐effect relationship. These findings suggest that corticosterone is unlikely to mediate sex reversal in frogs. Unexpectedly, animals originating from urban habitats had higher sex‐reversal and corticosterone‐release rates, reduced body mass and development speed, and lower survival compared to individuals collected from woodland habitats. Thus, anthropogenic environments may affect both sex and fitness, and the underlying mechanisms may vary across ectothermic vertebrates.

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Validation of water-borne cortisol and corticosterone in tadpoles: Recovery rate from an acute stressor, repeatability, and evaluating rearing methods

Cited by 30 publications

References 55 publications

Non-invasive Methods for Measuring and Monitoring Stress Physiology in Imperiled Amphibians

Non-invasive Methods for Measuring and Monitoring Stress Physiology in Imperiled Amphibians

Effects of a Neonicotinoid Insecticide and Population Density on Behavior and Development of Wood Frogs (Rana sylvatica)

Does stress make males? An experiment on the role of glucocorticoids in anuran sex reversal

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