CONTAMINANT EFFECTS ON HOST–PARASITE INTERACTIONS: ATRAZINE, FROGS, AND TREMATODES

The effects of contaminants on multispecies interactions can be difficult to predict. The herbicide atrazine is commonly used in North America for corn crops, runs off into wetlands, and has been implicated in the increasing susceptibility of larval frogs to trematode parasites. Using experimental challenges with free-living stages of trematodes (cercariae), it was found that Rana sylvatica tadpoles exposed to 30 microg/L of atrazine had...