Amphibian, Human Health Project

The Effect of AtrazineOn Male Frogs

By: Emily Wilbur

What Is Atrazine?

Atrazine is a chlorotriazine herbicide. It is applied to weeds and is used as a agricultural herbicide.

Atrazine Map

Where Atrazine is most frequently used

<img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/3-s2.0-B9781437778250000042-f04-01-9781437778250.jpg" alt="Atrazine - ScienceDirect"/>

Atrazine, one of the worlds most widely used pesticides, wrecks havoc with the size lives of adult male frogs, emasculating 3/4's of them and turning 1 out of 10 into females.

Robert Sanders, Berkeley News

Male Frogs and Atrazine

Amphibians are at risk of long-term (Chronic) exposure from Atrazine. In multiple studies it was found that that Atrazine has effects on morality, growth, development, and reproduction. Male frogs have been chemically emasculated The males then have a very low reproduction rate and some even become females. These male turned females can mate and produce offspring but they can only biologically reproduce male offspring.

Why Atrazine is a Problem

Atrazine is causing these chemically casterated hermaphrodites in the frog population. While many may not see this was a huge problem, the distinct issue with the male frogs then turing female is the fact that they only produce male offspring. With only male offspring, the population sex ratio becomes completely skewed and less and less true female frogs are born. With no true female frogs, no female offspring will be born and after a long period of time we could only be left with these chemically casterated males. This would then lead to the decline of the species as a whole and take away any genetic diversity these frog populations have.

Sources

Berkeley News https://news.berkeley.edu/2010/03/01/frogs/#:~:text=Atrazine%2C%20one%20of%20the%20world's,of%20California%2C%20Berkeley%2C%20biologists National Pesticide Information Center http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/atrazine.html Softpedia News https://news.softpedia.com/news/Atrazine-Causes-Hormonal-Impairment-Hemraphroditism-and-Death-50874.shtml Journal of Toxicological Analysis https://www.imedpub.com/articles/impact-of-pesticides-on-amphibians-a-review.php?aid=23948 Pesticide Action Network https://www.panna.org/resources/atrazine