Parasite (Ribeiroia ondatrae) infection linked to amphibian malformations in the western United States

By Pieter T. J. Johnson, Kevin B. Lunde, E. M. Thurman, Euan G. Ritchie, S. Wray, D. Sutherland, J. Kapfer, T. Frest, J. Bowerman, A. Blaustein. 2002

246 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Parasites and pathogens can influence the survivorship, behavior, and very structure of their host species. For example, experimental studies have shown that trematode parasites can cause high frequencies of severe limb malformations in amphibians. In a broad-scale field survey covering parts of California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana, we examined relationships between the frequency and types of morphological abnormalities in amphibians and the abundance of trematode parasite infection, pH, con- centrations of 61 pesticides, and levels of orthophosphate and total nitrate. We recorded severe malformations at frequencies ranging from 1% to 90% in nine amphibian species from 53 aquatic systems. Infection of larvae by the trematode Ribeiroia ondatrae was associated with, and functionally related to, higher frequencies of amphibian limb malfor- mations than found in uninfected populations (#5%). Parasites were concentrated around the basal tissue of hind limbs in infected anurans, and malformations associated with infection included skin webbings, supernumerary limbs and digits, and missing or mal- formed hind limbs. In the absence of Ribeiroia, amphibian populations exhibited low (0- 5%) frequencies of abnormalities involving missing digits or distal portions of a hind limb. Species were affected differentially by the parasite, and Ambystoma macrodactylum , Hyla regilla, Rana aurora, R. luteiventris, and Taricha torosa typically exhibited the highest frequencies of abnormalities. None of the water-quality variables measured was associated with malformed amphibians, but aquatic snail hosts (Planorbella spp.) were significant predictors of the presence and abundance of Ribeiroia infection. Morphological comparisons of adult specimens of Ribeiroia collected from different sites and raised in experimental definitive hosts suggested that all samples represented the same species— R. ondatrae. These field results, coupled with experimental research on the effects of Ribeiroia on amphibians, demonstrate that Ribeiroia infection is an important and widespread cause of amphibian limb malformations in the western United States. The relevance of trematode infection to declines of amphibian populations and the influence of habitat modification on the pathology and life cycle of Ribeiroia are emphasized as areas requiring further research.

Subfields: Ecology, Global and Planetary Change, Infectious Diseases

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Citations in the corpus

AGRICULTURAL PONDS SUPPORT AMPHIBIAN POPULATIONS (2004, background): “The midwestern United States is also an epicenter for the phenomenon of frog malformations, another environmental puzzle demanding a solution (Souter 2000, Johnson et al. 2002, Kiesecker 2002).”
Temperature‐driven shifts in a host‐parasite interaction drive nonlinear changes in disease risk (2012, background): “While Ribeiroia infects a wide variety of amphibian host species, we focused on Pseudacris regilla because of its sensitivity to developing pathology as a result of infections and its ubiquity in California wetlands where we focused our field survey efforts (Johnson et al., 2002).”
Landscape resistance to frog movements (2005, background): “Although investigators denounce factors such as increased UV radiation, pathogens, or combinations thereof, habitat loss and fragmentation remain the most frequently mentioned agents believed responsible for these declines (Alford and Richards 1999; Davidson et al. 2002; Johnson et al. 2002).”
The amphibian decline crisis: A watershed for conservation biology? (2005, background): “Increased eutrophication favours the snails that provide a secondary host for this parasite (Johnson et al., 2002; Johnson and Chase, 2004).”
Echinostome infection in green frogs (Rana clamitans) is stage and age dependent (2007, background): “While E. trivolvis was originally identified in North America, E. revolutum is widely distributed on several continents but has only recently been identified in North American snails (Sorensen et al., 1997; Fried & Graczyk, 2004).”
Effects of environmental change on helminth infections in amphibians: exploring the emergence of Ribeiroia and Echinostoma infections in North America. (2009, unknown): “…data further support the link between infection and malformations, and Ribeiroia has been connected to deformed amphibians in the Midwest, the Northeast, and especially the Western USA (Johnson et al. 2001b, 2002 ; Kiesecker 2002 ; Lannoo et al. 2003 ; Sutherland 2005 ; Johnson and Hartson 2008) .”
COMBINED EFFECTS OF UV‐B RADIATION AND NITRATE FERTILIZER ON LARVAL AMPHIBIANS (2003, background): “Snails are secondary parasitic hosts for trematode parasites, and the cysts of these parasites have been linked to deformities in developing amphibians (Johnson et al. 2002).”
Parasites in the food web: linking amphibian malformations and aquatic eutrophication (2004, methodology): “Pieter T. J. Johnson1* and Jonathan M. Chase2 1Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin, 680 North Park Street, Madison, WI 53706-1492, USA 2Department of Biology, Washington University, Box 1137, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA *Correspondence: E-mail: ptjohnson2@wisc.edu Emerging diseases are an eve”