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Digesta were collected from the intestines of seven species of bottom‐feeding fish to better understand the role of incidental ingestion of sediment in exposing fish to inorganic contaminants. A composite sediment tracer variable, based on concentrations of Co, Cr, Ni, Ti, V, and Y in digesta and in sediment, was calculated to estimate sediment content of digesta. Concentration factors (mg/kg in digesta divided by mg/kg in sediment) of eight elements of interest were linearly regressed on this tracer variable. The relative importance of sediment ingestion to oral exposure was quantified. Zinc, Cd, and Cu were ingested mainly from sediment‐free food. Arsenic, Cr, Ni, Al, and Pb, in contrast, were ingested mainly from sediment. As an example, 93% of the Ni in digesta from a brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) was from sediment and only 7% from food. Regressions of Al and Pb in digesta of suckers (Catostomidae) suggested an additional oral source, possibly from oxides coating biotic or abiotic surfaces. Overall, concentrations of 12 of 21 elements studied were positively correlated with sediment content (p < 0.005). Including sediment ingestion as a pathway for bottom‐feeding fish is essential for accurately estimating exposures in toxicological studies. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024;43:1036–1046. Published 2024. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amphibians with missing, misshapen, and extra limbs have garnered public and scientific attention for two decades, yet the extent of the phenomenon remains poorly understood. Despite progress in identifying the causes of abnormalities in some regions, a lack of knowledge about their broader spatial distribution and temporal dynamics has hindered efforts to understand their implications for amphibian population declines and environmental quality. To address this data gap, we conducted a nationwide, 10-year assessment of 62,947 amphibians on U.S. National Wildlife Refuges. Analysis of a core dataset of 48,081 individuals revealed that consistent with expected background frequencies, an average of 2% were abnormal, but abnormalities exhibited marked spatial variation with a maximum prevalence of 40%. Variance partitioning analysis demonstrated that factors associated with space (rather than species or year sampled) captured 97% of the variation in abnormalities, and the amount of partitioned variance decreased with increasing spatial scale (from site to refuge to region). Consistent with this, abnormalities occurred in local to regional hotspots, clustering at scales of tens to hundreds of kilometers. We detected such hotspot clusters of high-abnormality sites in the Mississippi River Valley, California, and Alaska. Abnormality frequency was more variable within than outside of hotspot clusters. This is consistent with dynamic phenomena such as disturbance or natural enemies (pathogens or predators), whereas similarity of abnormality frequencies at scales of tens to hundreds of kilometers suggests involvement of factors that are spatially consistent at a regional scale. Our characterization of the spatial and temporal variation inherent in continent-wide amphibian abnormalities demonstrates the disproportionate contribution of local factors in predicting hotspots, and the episodic nature of their occurrence.

Widespread observations of malformed amphibians across North America have generated both concern and controversy. Debates over the causes of such malformations-which can affect >50% of animals in a population-have continued, likely due to involvement of multiple causal factors. Here, we used a 13-year dataset encompassing 53,880 frogs and toads from 422 wetlands and 42 states in the conterminous USA to test hypotheses relating abnormalities and four categories of potential drivers: (i) chemical contaminants, (ii) land use practices, (iii) parasite infection, and (iv) targeted interactions between parasites and pesticides. Using a hierarchically nested, competing-model approach, we further examined how these associations varied spatially among geographic regions. Although malformations were rare overall (average = 1.6%), we identified 96 hotspot sites with 5%-25% abnormal individuals. Using the full dataset of 934 collections (without data on parasite infection), malformation frequency was best predicted by the presence of oil and gas wells within the watershed. Among collections also examined for parasite infection ( n = 154), average parasite load and its interaction with pesticide application positively predicted malformations: wetlands with a greater abundance of the trematode Ribeiroia ondatrae were more likely to have malformed amphibians, but these effects were strongest when pesticide application was also high, consistent with prior experimental research. Importantly, however, the influence of these factors also varied regionally, helping explain divergent results from previous studies at local scales; parasite infection was more influential in the West and Northeast, whereas pesticide application and oil/gas wells correlated with abnormalities in the Northeast, Southeast, and western regions of the USA. These results, based on the largest systematic sampling of amphibian malformations, suggest that increased observations of abnormal amphibians are associated with both parasite infection and chemical contaminants, but that their relative importance and interaction strength varied with the spatial extent of the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BSTRACT: The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the avoidance responses of juvenile striped bass, Morone saxatilis and Atlantic menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus to bis (tri-n-butyltin) oxide. An avoidance responses was exhibited by striped bass at a total organic tin concentration of 24.9 μg/L. Atlantic menhaden exhibited avoidance to total organic tin concentrations of 5.5 μg/L and greater. Atlantic menhaden are generally more sensitive to toxicants than striped bass; therefore, avoidance responses reported in this study are not surprising. It is highly likely that the concentrations of total organic tin that were avoided by the test species in this study were much higher than expected environmental concentrations. Ecologically significant hazards may occur due to potential effects that unperceived or non-avoided organotin concentrations may have on behavioral responses mediated by chemosensory systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nontarget effects of Abate(r) 4E (44.6% temephos) at 0.054 kg ofactive ingredient (a.i.) per 1 ha and of Altosid(r) Liquid Larvicide(5% methoprene) at 0.011 kg a.i./ha were investigated in 18 experimental ponds (average area, 202 m2; maximum depth, 0.7 m) atPatuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, Maryland, USA. Ponds weresprayed three times at 3-week intervals. Six ponds were sprayed withAbate, six with Altosid, and six with distilled water. Two insect-emergence traps per pond collected for 7 d and were then harvested 1 d before each spray and 13 to 14 days afterward. A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significant reductions in Shannondiversity, equitability, and numbers of individuals, species, and families in the Abate ponds relative to controls. Significant reductions also occurred in Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Diptera, Chironomidae, andChaoborus sp. Hester-Dendy samplers were installed before spray one and harvested 16 d after spray three. Based on one-way ANOVA, Shannondiversity, equitability, and number of Ephemeroptera and Chironomidae were significantly reduced in the Abate ponds. Emergence data indicate only isolated cases with significant reductions in the Altosid ponds relative to controls, and the Hester-Dendy data indicate no significant differences between the Altosid and control ponds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]