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Abstract Glucocorticoids (corticosterone/cortisol; cort) are frequently used in conservation as biomarkers of disturbance in wild populations. However, the context‐dependent nature of cort means that it may not always accurately reflect disturbance. For example, there is growing evidence that wildlife populations can evolve or acclimate to human‐induced environmental change (i.e. contaminants) by expressing higher levels of tolerance. Mechanisms that allow for populations to achieve higher contaminant tolerance can be related to cort and thereby impact the reliability of cort as an indicator of disturbance. This study asks: (1) do wildlife populations that differ in tolerance to contaminants differentially express baseline and stress‐induced cort and (2) is cort a viable indicator of disturbance across populations that differ in tolerance to contaminants? Toward this goal, we identified three wood frogRana sylvaticapopulations with relatively high NaCl tolerance and three populations with relatively low NaCl tolerance. Tadpoles from these populations were reared to metamorphosis in either an environmentally relevant concentration of NaCl (0.5 g L−1NaCl) or a control (0 g L−1NaCl). At metamorphosis we used a non‐invasive waterborne assay to measure baseline and stress‐induced cort release rates and measured fitness‐related metrics. We found that contaminant tolerance influences cort levels. More tolerant populations had lower baseline cort and higher fitness compared to less tolerant populations. However, despite variation in cort across populations with different levels of tolerance, cort still represents a viable indicator of condition as our results show a consistent negative relationship between cort and fitness. Lastly, we found that levels of cort were consistent regardless of whether amphibians were reared in NaCl contaminated or non‐contaminated environments. Overall, we emphasize the importance of recognizing population‐level variation in cort due to contaminant tolerance when using cort as a biomarker for conservation purposes.
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Testing whether adrenal steroids mediate phenotypic and physiologic effects of elevated salinity on larval tiger salamanders
Abstract Salinity (sodium chloride, NaCl) from anthropogenic sources is a persistent contaminant that negatively affects freshwater taxa. Amphibians can be susceptible to salinity, but some species are innately or adaptively tolerant. Physiological mechanisms mediating tolerance to salinity are still unclear, but changes in osmoregulatory hormones such as corticosterone (CORT) and aldosterone (ALDO) are prime candidates. We exposed larval barred tiger salamanders (Ambystoma mavortium) to environmentally relevant NaCl treatments (<32–4000 mg·L−1) for 24 days to test effects on growth, survival, and waterborne CORT responses. Of those sampled, we also quantified waterborne ALDO from a subset. Using a glucocorticoid antagonist (RU486), we also experimentally suppressed CORT signaling of some larvae to determine if CORT mediates effects of salinity. There were no strong differences in survival among salinity treatments, but salinity reduced dry mass, snout–vent length, and body condition while increasing water content of larvae. High survival and sublethal effects demonstrated that salamanders were physiologically challenged but could tolerate the experimental concentrations. CORT signaling did not attenuate sublethal effects of salinity. Baseline and stress‐induced (after an acute stressor, shaking) CORT were not influenced by salinity. ALDO was correlated with baseline CORT, suggesting it could be difficult to decouple the roles of CORT and ALDO. Future studies comparing ALDO and CORT responses of adaptively tolerant and previously unexposed populations could be beneficial to understand the roles of these hormones in tolerance to salinity. Nevertheless, our study enhances our understanding of the roles of corticosteroid hormones in mediating effects of a prominent anthropogenic stressor.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1754474
- PAR ID:
- 10391590
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Integrative Zoology
- Volume:
- 18
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1749-4877
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 27-44
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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