Phylogenetic signal in amphibian sensitivity to copper sulfate relative to experimental temperature

Chiari, Ylenia; Glaberman, Scott; Serén, Nina; Carretero, Miguel A.; Capellini, Isabella

Abstract

The release of large quantities of chemicals into the environment represents a major source of environmental disturbance. In recent years, the focus of ecotoxicology has shifted from describing the effects of chemical contaminants on individual species to developing more integrated approaches for predicting and evaluating long term effects of chemicals across species and ecosystems. Traditional ecotoxicology is typically based on data of sensitivity of a few surrogate species to a contaminant and often considers little variability in chemical sensitivity within and among taxonomic groups. This approach assumes that evolutionary history and phylogenetic relatedness among species have little or no impact on species’ sensitivity to chemical compounds. Few studies have tested this assumption. Using phylogenetic comparative methods and published data for amphibians, we show that sensitivity to copper sulfate, a commonly used pesticide, exhibits a strong phylogenetic signal when controlling for experimental temperature. Our results indicate that evolutionary history needs to be accounted for to make accurate predictions of amphibian sensitivity to this contaminant under different temperature scenarios. Since physiological and metabolic traits showing high phylogenetic signal likely underlie variation in species sensitivity to chemical stressors, future studies should evaluate and predict species vulnerability to pollutants using evolutionarily informed approaches.

Citation

Chiari, Y., Glaberman, S., Serén, N., Carretero, M. A., & Capellini, I. (2015). Phylogenetic signal in amphibian sensitivity to copper sulfate relative to experimental temperature. Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America, 25(3), 596-602. https://doi.org/10.1890/14-0439.1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 24, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Apr 1, 2015
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Mar 25, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 1, 2015
• Journal: Ecological applications
• Print ISSN: 1051-0761
• Electronic ISSN: 1939-5582
• Publisher: Ecological Society of America
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 596-602
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1890/14-0439.1
• Keywords: Anura; Ecotoxicology; Evolutionary biology; Heavy metal contamination; LC50; Temperature; Phylogeny; Copper sulphate
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/372003
• Publisher URL: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/14-0439.1
• Additional Information: Copy of the article: Ylenia Chiari, Scott Glaberman, Nina Serén, Miguel A. Carretero, and Isabella Capellini 2015. Phylogenetic signal in amphibian sensitivity to copper sulfate relative to experimental temperature. Ecological applications 25:596–602. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/14-0439.1