An emerging viral Disease in tiger Salamanders

Through decades of research, it is undeniable that amphibians are declining globally at record rates. As indicator species, amphibians often signal degradation in the biological condition of their environment. Declines in their abundance serve as early warning signs for potential harm to the health of an ecosystem by revealing the impacts of such things as pollution or habitat degradation. Because of this, it is important to discover and prevent the causes of amphibian declines. While there are many factors that contribute to the declining numbers, two of the leading causes of these declines are emerging diseases and environmental contaminants. While some research has been done to study each of these separately, very few studies have examined the interactions of contaminants and disease. In this study, we examine the effects of both a viral disease and two commonly used pesticides. The insecticide malathion and the popular herbicide glyphosate were crossed in a factorial design with Ambystoma tigrinum virus (ATV) and the synergistic affects on tiger salamanders were investigated. The response variables examined include mass, snout vent length (SVL), infection level, and mortality. This is the first study of it