GMO Research
Abstract: The use of pesticides is important for growing crops and protecting human health by reducing the prevalence of targeted pest species. However, less attention is given to the potential unintended effects on nontarget species, including taxonomic groups that are of current conservation concern. One issue raised in recent years is the potential for pesticides …
Abstract: With the increased use of glyphosate-based herbicides (marketed under several names, including Roundup and Vision), there has been a concomitant increased concern about the unintended impacts that particular formulations containing the popular surfactant polyethoxylated tallowamine (POEA) might have on amphibians. Published studies have examined a relatively small number of anuran species (primarily from Australia and …
Abstract: Effects of exposure to contaminants such as pesticides along with exposure to pathogens have been listed as two major contributors to the global crisis of declining amphibian populations. These two factors have also been linked in explanations of the causes of these population declines. We conducted a combined exposure experiment to test the hypothesis …
Abstract: The widespread application of pesticides has attracted the attention of ecologists as we struggle to understand the impacts of these chemicals on natural communities. While we have a large number of laboratory-based, single-species studies of pesticides, such studies can only examine direct effects. However, in natural communities, species can experience both direct and indirect …
Abstract: The responses of five North American frog species that were exposed in an aqueous system to the original formulation of Roundup were compared. Carefully designed and un-confounded laboratory toxicity tests are crucial for accurate assessment of potential risks from the original formulation of Roundup to North American amphibians in aquatic environments. The formulated mixture …
Abstract: The decline in amphibians across the globe has sparked a search for the causes, and recent evidence suggests a connection with pesticides. However, for most pesticides, tests on amphibians are rare and conducted only for short durations (1 to 4 days) and without natural stressors. Recent studies have discovered that the stress of predator …
Abstract: Gyphosate‐basedherbicides are among the most widely used pesticides in the world. We compared the acute toxicity of the glyphosate end‐use formulation Roundup Original® to four North American amphibian species (Rana clamitans, R. pipiens, R. sylvatica, and Bufo americanus) and the toxicity of glyphosate technical, the polyethoxylated tallowamine surfactant (POEA) commonly used in glyphosate‐based herbicides, …
Abstract: Pesticides constitute a major anthropogenic addition to natural communities. In aquatic communities, a great majority of pesticide impacts are determined from single‐species experiments conducted under laboratory conditions. Although this is an essential protocol to rapidly identify the direct impacts of pesticides on organisms, it prevents an assessment of direct and indirect pesticide effects on …
Abstract: Vision, a glyphosate-based herbicide containing a 15% (weight:weight) polyethoxylated tallow amine surfactant blend, and the concurrent factor of pH were tested to determine their interactive effects on early life-stage anurans. Ninety-six-hour laboratory static renewal studies, using the embryonic and larval life stages (Gosner 25) of Rana clamitans, R. pipiens, Bufo americanus, and Xenopus laevis, …
Abstract: The global decline in amphibian diversity has become an international environmental problem with a multitude of possible causes. There is evidence that pesticides may play a role, yet few pesticides have been tested on amphibians. For example, Roundup is a globally common herbicide that is conventionally thought to be nonlethal to amphibians. However, Roundup …
Abstract: The global decline of amphibians has sparked interest in the role that pesticides may play. Pesticides in nature typically exist in combinations, but given the vast number of chemicals used, most toxicological experiments necessarily have examined one pesticide at a time. I examined how four commercial formulations of pesticides (diazinon, carbaryl, malathion, and glyphosate) affected …
