Date of Award
2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Natural Sciences
First Advisor
Leininger, Elizabeth
Area of Concentration
Neurobiology
Abstract
Atrazine is a widely-used herbicide and known estrogenic and antiandrogenic endocrine disruptor, but its effects on the model organism Silurana tropicalis, which produces a sexually dimorphic call, have not been evaluated. To assess atrazine’s effects on this species, we exposed postmetamorphic, juvenile frogs to atrazine until they reached maturity, then assessed call inter pulse interval, vocal organ mass, and gonadal morphology. We found single-sex polygonadism, an estrogenic effect, in 2 atrazine-exposed males, but did not note a significant difference between the vocal organ masses or call inter-pulse intervals of control and atrazine frogs. Although this study has established that juvenile atrazine exposure alters the gonadal morphology of S. tropicalis, the lack of a significant effect on vocal organ mass or call inter pulse interval is not conclusive proof that atrazine has no meaningful effect: further studies are needed to establish whether the vocal organ morphology or call parameters are altered in subtler ways.
Recommended Citation
Ferguson, Quinn, "ATRAZINE ALTERS THE GONADAL MORPHOLOGY, BUT NOT THE LARYNGEAL MASS OR CALL INTER PULSE INTERVAL, OF SILURANA TROPICALIS" (2020). Theses & ETDs. 5935.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/5935