Morphological Responses as a New Tool to Evaluate the Effects of Agrochemicals and Other Emerging Contaminants in Neotropical Frogs

Abstract

Morphological and histological traits are good biomarkers of intermediate responses of organisms to contaminants because they integrate both biochemical and physiological responses. Morphological biomarkers describe changes and abnormalities from subcellular and cellular up to individual levels. Morphological changes in organs and tissues can be defensive or compensatory to maintain tissue and organ functions against degenerative changes. In this chapter, we present new morphological tools used in both field work and laboratory experiments to evaluate the effects of contaminants on frogs. We also provide detailed tool descriptions that include characteristics of tissue morphometric techniques, cell density and colour difference analysis. In addition, we demonstrate their applicability in different organs and tissues of Neotropical frog species.