Optical characteristics of natural waters protect amphibians from UV-B in the US Pacific Northwest
Palen WJ, Schindler DE, Adams MJ, Pearl CA, Bury RB, Diamond SA. 2002. Optical characteristics of natural waters protect amphibians from UV-B in the US Pacific Northwest. Ecology. 83(11):2951-2957
Increased exposure to ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation has been proposed as a major environmental stressor leading to global amphibian declines. Prior experimental evidence from the U.S. Pacific Northwest indicating the acute embroyonic sensitivity of at least four amphibian species to UV-B has been central to the literature about amphibian decline. However, these results have not been expanded to address population-scale effects and natural landscape variation in UV-B transparency of water at amphibian breeding sites: both necessary links to assess the importance of UV-B for amphibian declines. Their data suggest that 85% of sites are naturally protected by dissolved organic matter in pond water, and that only a fraction of breeding sites are expected to experience UV-B intensities exceeding levels associated with elevated egg mortality. Thus, the spectral characteristics of natural waters likely mediate the physiological effects of UV-B on amphibian eggs in all but the clearest waters. These data imply that UV-B is unlikely to cause broad amphibian declines across the landscape of the American Northwest.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Palen, Wendy; Schindler, Daniel; Adams, Michael; Pearl, Christopher; Bury, R; Diamond, Stephen
- Units
- KLMN
- Keywords
- Ambystoma gracile, Ambystoma macrodactylum, Amphibian declines, Bufo boreas, Cascades Frog, dissolved organic matter, dom, long-toed salamander, Northwestern salamander, Pacific Northwest, Rana cascadae, UV-B Radiation, Western toad