Wildlife Biology Program, WA Franke College of Forestry & Conservation, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, USA.
Department of Environmental Science and Ecology, SUNY-Brockport, Brockport, New York, USA.
Integr Environ Assess Manag. 2021 Jul;17(4):684-690. doi: 10.1002/ieam.4391. Epub 2021 Mar 2.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widespread, persistent environmental pollutants known to elicit a wide range of negative effects on wildlife species. There is scarce information regarding the toxicity of PFAS on amphibians, but amphibians may be highly susceptible because of their permeable skin and dependence on fresh water. Acute toxicity studies are a first step toward understanding responses to PFAS exposure, providing benchmarks for species-specific tolerances, informing ecological risk assessment (ERA), and designing chronic toxicity studies. We conducted standardized 96-h lethal concentration (LC50) toxicity tests for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) with 9 widely distributed amphibian species native to eastern and central North America. We also conducted LC50 tests with perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) for 2 species and determined whether toxicity of PFOS and PFOA varied between life stages for 3 species. Acute toxicity varied among PFAS and species and between developmental stages within species. Across all species, toxicity of PFOS was more than 8× higher than PFOA. Salamanders in the genus Ambystoma were generally more sensitive to PFOS than were anurans (frogs and a toad). Toxicity of PFOA was highest for small-mouthed salamanders and gray tree frogs and lowest for Jefferson salamanders, American bullfrogs, green frogs, and wood frogs. Although only 2 species were exposed to PFHxS, survival was lower for green frogs than for American bullfrogs. Toxicity of PFAS also varied between developmental stages of larvae. Gray tree frogs were more sensitive at later developmental stages, and small-mouthed salamanders were more sensitive at earlier developmental stages. Our study is one of the first to report species-, developmental stage-, and compound-specific differences in sensitivity to PFAS across a wide range of amphibian species. The benchmarks for toxicity we determined can inform conservation and remediation efforts, guide chronic toxicity studies, and help predict influences on amphibian communities, thereby informing future ERAs for PFAS. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:684-689. © 2021 SETAC.
全氟辛烷磺酸 (PFOS) 和全氟辛酸 (PFOA) 是广泛存在且持久的环境污染物，已知会对野生动物物种产生广泛的负面影响。关于 PFAS 对两栖动物的毒性知之甚少，但由于两栖动物的皮肤具有渗透性且依赖淡水，它们可能非常容易受到影响。急性毒性研究是了解对 PFAS 暴露的反应的第一步，为物种特异性耐受性提供基准，为生态风险评估 (ERA) 提供信息，并设计慢性毒性研究。我们用 9 种广泛分布于北美东部和中部的本地两栖动物进行了标准化的 96 小时致死浓度 (LC50) 的 PFOS 和 PFOA 急性毒性测试。我们还对 2 种物种进行了全氟己烷磺酸盐 (PFHxS) 的 LC50 测试，并确定了 3 种物种的 PFOS 和 PFOA 毒性是否在生命阶段之间有所不同。急性毒性在 PFAS 和物种之间以及物种内的发育阶段之间存在差异。在所有物种中，PFOS 的毒性是 PFOA 的 8 倍以上。蝾螈属的蝾螈通常比蛙类对 PFOS 更敏感。PFOA 的毒性对小嘴蝾螈和灰色树蛙最高，对杰斐逊蝾螈、美国牛蛙、绿蛙和林蛙最低。尽管只有 2 种物种接触过 PFHxS，但绿蛙的存活率低于美国牛蛙。PFAS 的毒性也在幼虫的发育阶段之间有所不同。灰色树蛙在后期发育阶段更敏感，小嘴蝾螈在早期发育阶段更敏感。我们的研究是首批报告广泛的两栖动物物种对 PFAS 的敏感性存在物种、发育阶段和化合物特异性差异的研究之一。我们确定的毒性基准可以为保护和修复工作提供信息，指导慢性毒性研究，并有助于预测对两栖动物群落的影响，从而为 PFAS 的未来 ERA 提供信息。综合环境评估与管理 2021;17:684-689。©2021 SETAC。
