The Swamp Stomp

Volume 15, Issue 41

A study from Yale researchers published September 7 suggests that waste from suburban areas may be changing the sex of frogs in nearby ponds, according to Newsweek.

The study, led by Yale researcher David Skelly and doctoral student Max Lambert, found a connection between the ratio of male to female frogs in ponds and their proximity to suburban developments. The study, which took place in over 20 ponds in Connecticut, claimed that the chemicals from suburban waste are to blame for the changes, according to Michigan Radio.

According to Newsweek, the study reported that there were significantly lower amounts of female frogs in ponds in undeveloped areas compared to those near the suburbs. This could be coincidental, but Skelly’s team found hermaphroditic traits in many of the male frogs in these suburban ponds, suggesting that there is a change happening.

“So you have genetic males becoming, in terms of their morphology and perhaps their physiology, they’re turning into females because of the chemicals they’re encountering in the environment,” Skelly said.

The study found that estrogen-mimicking chemicals from plants may be playing a large part in the changes. Specifically, it points to phytoestrogens, which are found in plants like clovers, soybeans and peanuts. Simply removing these from your yard may be releasing the chemicals into the surrounding environment, causing the sex change in nearby frogs, according to Newsweek.

However, Skelly said that there are a myriad of factors that could be leading to these changes, according to Michigan Radio.

“It’s everything from brake pads to components of plastics to — in other contexts, we’ve found that, you know, whatever goes into your domestic wastewater is likely to be getting in there,” he said.

Skelly said he wasn’t sure what this means for the frog population, but he did mention the importance of determining whether or not these new female frogs are sterile, said Michigan Radio.

As far as solving the problem, Skelly said that there wasn’t going to be one single solution due to the number of factors playing into the changes, according to Michigan Radio.

“We’re not going to be able to just get, for instance, you know plasticizers, like BPA, out of baby bottles or just de-register one kind of pesticide and take care of the problem,” he said. “Not that those things might not make some kind of a difference. But they’re not going to be comprehensive, effective solutions.”

 

Sources:

http://michiganradio.org/post/there-are-weird-things-happening-frogs-suburbs#stream/0

http://www.newsweek.com/female-frogs-estrogen-hermaphrodites-suburban-waste-369553