Gene Sam M, Katzenback Barbara A, Wilson Jessica, Mallory Mark L, Provencher Jennifer F, Steel Elisabeth, Orihel Diane M
Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Environ Toxicol Chem. 2025 Feb 1;44(2):444-459. doi: 10.1093/etojnl/vgae037.
Microplastics have been found across the globe in the habitats of many amphibians. To investigate how exposure to microplastics affects hatching success, survival, growth, and development of wood frogs (Rana sylvatica), as well as how these animals may act as vectors for microplastics, a 96-day outdoor mesocosm experiment was conducted at the Queen's University Biological Station (Ontario, Canada). Wood frogs were allocated to a negative control group or exposed to an additive-containing microplastic mixture (equal parts polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene terephthalate) at nominal water concentrations of 0.069 g/L or 0.691 g/L. Whereas hatchling survival, hatching success, and hatchling size did not differ among experimental groups, exposure to microplastics caused increased larval growth at both microplastic concentrations and delayed larval development at the highest concentration. However, there was little evidence that survival, body size, or development of metamorphs were affected by exposure to microplastics. We found microplastics in the gastrointestinal tract and on the skin of wood frogs and also inside the liver and leg muscle. In addition, the presence of frogs enhanced the flux of positively buoyant microplastics between the aquatic and terrestrial environment. This study provides new insights into how microplastic pollution affects the growth and development of wood frogs and suggests that amphibians with a biphasic life cycle may act as biovectors of plastics across water-land interfaces.
在全球范围内，许多两栖动物的栖息地中都发现了微塑料。为了研究接触微塑料如何影响林蛙（Rana sylvatica）的孵化成功率、存活率、生长和发育，以及这些动物如何成为微塑料的载体，在皇后大学生物站（加拿大安大略省）进行了一项为期96天的室外中宇宙实验。将林蛙分配到阴性对照组，或使其暴露于含有添加剂的微塑料混合物（聚丙烯、聚苯乙烯和聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯等量混合）中，名义水体浓度分别为0.069 g/L或0.691 g/L。虽然各实验组之间的幼体存活率、孵化成功率和幼体大小没有差异，但接触微塑料导致两个微塑料浓度下的幼体生长均增加，且在最高浓度下幼体发育延迟。然而，几乎没有证据表明微塑料暴露会影响变态期个体的存活率、体型或发育。我们在林蛙的胃肠道、皮肤以及肝脏和腿部肌肉中发现了微塑料。此外，青蛙的存在增强了正浮力微塑料在水生和陆地环境之间的通量。这项研究为微塑料污染如何影响林蛙的生长和发育提供了新的见解，并表明具有双相生命周期的两栖动物可能作为塑料在水陆界面的生物载体。
