Effects of Altosid and Abate-4E on Deformities and Survival in Southern Leopard Frogs Under Semi-Natural Conditions

Since 1995 when a group of school children in Minnesota found frogs with supernumerary limbs and missing limbs, there has been widespread interest in the amphibian malformation issue. Despite considerable effort to understand this problem, its extent and seriousness as well as direct causes of these malformations remain unclear. Progress on this issue has been hampered by a scarcity of scientifically reliable information on historical rates of abnormalities under undisturbed conditions and by the normal turnaround times of data collection, sample analysis and publication. One of the very few peer-reviewed publications with field-collected data showed that an average of 12% (range 0-69%) of the frogs inhabiting wetlands in southern Quebec, Canada had deformities, most of which consisted of partially or completely missing hind limbs or digits (Ouellet et al. 1997). The use of pesticides was correlated with these deformities, but no specific cause and effect relationships were developed