The Role of Multiple Stressors in Ranavirus-Caused Amphibian Mortalities in Acadia Naitonal Park Wetlands
Gahl MK and Calhoun AJ. 2010. The Role of Multiple Stressors in Ranavirus-Caused Amphibian Mortalities in Acadia Naitonal Park Wetlands. Canadian Journal of Zoology. 88(1):108-121
From Introduction, 'In this study we examined multiple stressors in free-living amphibian populations in Acadia National Park, Maine, USA, where there is a history of ranavirus (family Iridoviridae, genus Ranavirus) causing mortality and morbidity in amphibian populations (Gahl 2007; Gahl and Calhoun 2008).' Following from abstract 'Recent studies suggest that multiple sublethal stressors compromise amphibian immune systems and increase susceptibility to disease. We examined two aspects of multiple stressors and incidence of ranavirus-caused amphibian mortalities in free-living amphibian populations: (1) among-pond differences in physical, chemical, and biological stressors that may exacerbate mortality events, and (2) temporal changes in within-pond stressors that coincide with mortality events. At the among-pond scale, we used principal components analysis and logistic regression followed by Akaike's information criterion (QAICc) to identify stressors associated with disease incidence. Of the stressors we investigated, aluminum, temperature, and conductivity were most correlated with outbreaks, but it was unclear whether they increased ranavirus-caused mortality events. Sublethal stressors were difficult to isolate in the field and few were significantly associated with ranavirus across all breeding ponds. Our results suggest that each wetland, because of varied physical, biological, and chemical settings, will have its own suite of stressors that sublethally affect amphibians.' /STUDY LOCATIONS:/ /ACADIA NATIONAL PARK/
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Gahl, Megan; Calhoun, Aram
- Units
- ACAD
- Keywords
- Acadia National Park, Aluminum (Al), Aluminum Conductivity Habitat, Bacteria, chytridiomycosis, Conductivity, cumulative impacts, Disease, Health, LAKE, Mortality, Pond, Protozoa, Quantity, Ranavirus, research recommendations, stress (physiological), Temperature, Temperature Cumulative impacts, viruses, Water Quality, Wetland