How Pollutants are Affecting Amphibian Tadpoles: Relationship with Anthropogenic Pollutants and Perspectives for the Future

Abstract

Pollution and contamination of freshwater environments are among the main drivers of amphibian decline worldwide. This chapter identifies research gaps that could guide further investigations, offer some insights about ecotoxicological research, and present a brief systematic review to illustrate how important the larval stage of amphibians is to our knowledge about chemical contaminants. Also, to provide up-to-date information about the complexity of interactions between contaminants and other stressors, and their effects on many different aspects of amphibian larvae, such as physiology, morphology and behavior, and on aquatic food webs. Differences in sensitivity between taxonomic groups and species are also presented. From this systematic review, two additional aspects drew our attention: (i) the use of outdoor mesocosms seems to be the most powerful experimental technique because it allows the control of many variables within the experimental system (resembling laboratory experiments) and allows more realism (resembling the real world), and (ii) considering the evolutionary perspective, the inclusion of as many species as possible and also species from different lineages.