Meeting Abstract

35.4  Wednesday, Jan. 5  Using multiple endpoints to determine the effects of atrazine ingestion on gravid female watersnakes and their offspring NEUMAN-LEE, LA*; BAUMGARTNER, KA; VOORHEES, JM; GAINES, KF; MULLIN, SJ; Utah State University; Eastern Illinois University; Eastern Illinois University; Eastern Illinois University; Eastern Illinois University lorin215@gmail.com

Ecotoxicological studies that focus on a single endpoint might not accurately represent the true ecological effects of a contaminant. Exposure to atrazine, a widely-used herbicide, disrupts endocrine function and sexual development in amphibians, but studies involving reptilian species are lacking. Our study examines several effects of atrazine ingestion on gravid females and neonates exposed in utero of the Northern Watersnake (Nerodia sipedon). We collected 25 adult female N. sipedon mated them with males in the lab, and maintained them for the entirety of their gestation period. Each snake received one of four doses of atrazine twice a week via ingestion of contaminated fish: control, 2, 20, or 200 ppb. We obtained blood samples from female snakes each week to quantify the estradiol levels, and monitored their survival throughout gestation. Following birth, we recorded the neonate morphometrics, sex ratio, percent stillborn, scale row symmetry, and liver lipid mass from mothers and neonates. Our analyses showed that atrazine ingestion potentially effects estradiol production in females, might inhibit the immune response, alters sex ratio, causes a higher proportion of stillborn neonates, disrupts the bilateral scale symmetry of the neonate snakes, but has no effect on lipid mass in the mother or neonate livers. Our findings emphasize the need for additional research that assesses the effects of pesticides on other reptile species. Furthermore, we advocate the use of multiple endpoints to determine the full range of ecological impacts that are manifested by contaminant exposure.