Pond Acidification May Explain Differences in Corticosterone among Salamander Populations

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dc.contributorVirginia Techen
dc.contributor.authorChambers, David L.en
dc.contributor.authorWojdak, Jeremy M.en
dc.contributor.authorDu, Pangen
dc.contributor.authorBelden, Lisa K.en
dc.contributor.departmentBiological Sciencesen
dc.date.accessed2014-06-26en
dc.date.accessioned2014-06-27T14:45:41Zen
dc.date.available2014-06-27T14:45:41Zen
dc.date.issued2013-03en
dc.description.abstractPhysiological tolerances play a key role in determining species distributions and abundance across a landscape, and understanding these tolerances can therefore be useful in predicting future changes in species distributions that might occur. Vertebrates possess several highly conserved physiological mechanisms for coping with environmental stressors, including the hormonal stress response that involves an endocrine cascade resulting in the increased production of glucocorticoids. We examined the function of this endocrine axis by assessing both baseline and acute stress-induced concentrations of corticosterone in larvae from eight natural breeding populations of Jefferson's salamander Ambystoma jeffersonianum. We surveyed individuals from each pond and also examined a variety of environmental pond parameters. We found that baseline and stress-induced corticosterone concentrations differed significantly among ponds. Population-level baseline corticosterone concentrations were negatively related to pH and positively related to nitrate, and stress-induced concentrations were again negatively related to pH, positively related to nitrate, and positively related to temperature. We followed the field survey with an outdoor mesocosm experiment in which we manipulated pH and again examined baseline and acute stress-induced corticosterone in A. jeffersonianum larvae. As in the field survey, we observed an increase in the baseline corticosterone concentration of individuals exposed to the lowest pH treatment (pH 5-5.8). Examining physiological indices using a combined approach of field surveys and experiments can be a powerful tool for trying to unravel the complexities of environmental impacts on species distributions.en
dc.description.sponsorshipDepartment of Biological Sciences from Virginia Techen
dc.description.sponsorshipGraduate Research and Development Grant from Virginia Techen
dc.identifier.citationDavid L. Chambers, Jeremy M. Wojdak, Pang Du, and Lisa K. Belden. "Pond Acidification May Explain Differences in Corticosterone among Salamander Populations," Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, Vol. 86, No. 2 (March/April 2013), pp. 224-232. DOI: 10.1086/669917en
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1086/669917en
dc.identifier.issn1522-2152en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/49145en
dc.identifier.urlhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/669917en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherUniversity of Chicago Pressen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjecthormonal stress-responseen
dc.subjectphysiological stressen
dc.subjectbufo-terrestrisen
dc.subjectamphibiansen
dc.subjectmechanismen
dc.subjecttoxicityen
dc.subjectsurvivalen
dc.subjectNitrogenen
dc.subjecttadpolesen
dc.subjectecologyen
dc.subjectphysiologyen
dc.subjectzoologyen
dc.titlePond Acidification May Explain Differences in Corticosterone among Salamander Populationsen
dc.title.serialPhysiological and Biochemical Zoologyen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden

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