Abstract
Road deicing agents can enter nearby wetlands and alter the composition of aquatic communities by directly eliminating salt-intolerant species and modifying ecological interactions between tolerant species. We conducted field experiments to examine the sensitivity of taxa that inhabit seasonal wetlands and to determine whether salt contamination could increase the production of ovipositing insects. In two outdoor mesocosm experiments, cladocerans and copepods rarely survived concentrations of commercial road salt >1,200 mg L−1, while wood frog eggs and hatchlings (Lithobates sylvaticus) were not strongly impacted until concentrations exceeded 4,500 mg L−1. Shore flies (Ephydridae), mosquitoes (Culex restuans; Anopheles punctipennis) and midge larvae (Chironomidae) were more salt tolerant than macrozooplankton. These taxa tended to be absent or relatively rare in experimental mesocosms with low salinities, but abundant in mesocosms with intermediate to high salinities. We conducted two additional experiments to examine whether adult choice of oviposition sites may in part explain the rarity of Cx. restuans in pools with low salinity. These revealed that Cx. restuans reduced oviposition rates in water-filled containers with cladocerans, and reduced clutch size in the presence of Lithobates larvae. However, salt concentration per se did not influence the propensity of Cx. restuans to oviposit. Collectively, our results suggest that aquatic habitats that are biologically compromised by deicing agents favor salt-tolerant insects, and that the use of road salts could increase the production of adult mosquitoes that are pests and vectors of disease.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Benbow ME, Merritt RW (2004) Road-salt toxicity of select Michigan wetland macroinvertebrates under different testing conditions. Wetlands 24:68–76
Blaustein L (1999) Oviposition site selection in response to risk of predation: evidence from aquatic habitats and consequences for population dynamics and community structure. In: Wasser SP (ed) Evolutionary theory and processes: modern perspectives, papers in honor of Eviatar Nevo. Kluwer, The Netherlands, pp 441–456
Blaustein L, Chase JM (2007) Interactions between mosquito larvae and species that share the same trophic level. Annu Rev Entomol 52:489–507
Blaustein L, Kotler BP (1993) Oviposition habitat selection by the mosquito, Culiseta longiareolata: effects of conspecifics, food and green toad tadpoles. Ecol Entomol 18:104–108
Blaustein L, Kiflawi M, Eitam A, Mangel M, Cohen JE (2004) Oviposition habitat selection in response to risk of predation: mode of detection consistency across experimental venue. Oecologia 138:300–305
Brock MA, Nielsen DL, Crosslé K (2005) Changes in biotic communities developing from freshwater wetland sediments under experimental salinity and water regimes. Freshwat Biol 50:1376–1390
Brodman R, Ogger J, Kolaczyk M, Pulver RA, Long AJ, Bogard T (2003) Mosquito control by pond-breeding salamander larvae. Herpetol Rev 34:116–119
Burley LA, Moyer AT, Petranka JW (2006) Interactions between wood frogs and spotted salamanders: tadpole density mediates intraguild predation and intra- and interspecific competition. Oecologia 148:641–649
Cottingham KL, Lennon JT, Brown BL (2005) Knowing when to draw the line: designing more informative ecological experiments. Frontiers Ecol Environ 3:145–152
Cowgill UM, Milazzo DP (1990) The sensitivity of two cladocerans to water quality variables, salinity and hardness. Arch Hydrobiol 120:185–196
Dougherty CK, Smith GR (2006) Acute effects of road de-icers on the tadpoles of three anurans. Appl Herpetol 3:87–93
Ebel GD, Rochlin IB, Longacker J, Kramer LD (2005) Culex restuans (Diptera: Culicidae) relative abundance and vector competence for West Nile Virus. J Med Entomol 42:838–843
Environment Canada (2001) Priority substances list assessment report for road salts. Environment Canada, Catalog number En40-215/63E. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Forman RTT (2003) Road ecology: science and solutions. Island Press, Washington
Gosner KL (1960) A simplified table for staging anuran embryos and larvae with notes on identification. Herpetologica 16:183–190
Harmon SM, Specht WL, Chandler GT (2003) A Comparison of the daphnids Ceriodaphnia dubia and Daphnia ambigua for their utilization in routine toxicity testing in the southeastern United States. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 45:79–85
Hart BT, Bailey P, Edwards R, Hortle K, James K, McMahon A (1991) A review of the salt sensitivity of the Australian freshwater biota. Hydrobiologia 210:105–144
Karraker NE (2007) Are embryonic and larval green frogs (Rana clamitans) insensitive to road deicing salt? Herpetol Conserv Biol 2:35–41
Karraker NE, Gibbs JP, Vonesh JR (2008) Impacts of road deicing salt on the demography of vernal pool-breeding amphibians. Ecol Appl 18:724–734
Kaushal SS, Groffman PM, Likens GE, Belt KT, Stack WP, Kelly VR, Band LE, Fisher GT (2005) Increased salinization of fresh water in the northeastern United States. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 102:13517–13520
Mason CF (2002) Biology of freshwater pollution, 4th edn. Prentice-Hall, Harlow
Mokany A, Shine R (2002) Competition between tadpoles and mosquitoes: the effects of larval density and tadpole size. Aust J Zool 50:549–563
Mokany A, Shine R (2003a) Competition between tadpoles and mosquito larvae. Oecologia 135:615–620
Mokany A, Shine R (2003b) Biological warfare in the garden pond: tadpoles suppress the growth of mosquito larvae. Ecol Entomol 28:102–108
Mokany A, Shine R (2003c) Oviposition site selection by mosquitoes is affected by cues from conspecific larvae and anuran tadpoles. Austral Ecol 28:33–37
Morin PJ (1998) Realism, precision, and generality in experimental tests of ecological theory. In: Resetarits WJ, Bernardo J (eds) Issues and perspectives in experimental ecology. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 50–70
Nielsen DL, Brock MA, Rees GN, Baldwin DS (2003) Effects of increasing salinity on freshwater ecosystems in Australia. Aust J Bot 51:655–665
Petranka JW (1998) Salamanders of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, p 576
Petranka JW, Fakhoury K (1991) Evidence of a chemically-mediated avoidance response of ovipositing insects to bluegills and green frog tadpoles. Copeia 1991:234–239
Petranka JW, Kennedy CA (1999) Pond tadpoles with generalized morphology: is it time to reconsider their functional roles in aquatic communities? Oecologia 120:621–631
Petranka JW, Murray SM, Kennedy CA (2003) Response of amphibians to restoration of a southern Appalachian wetland: perturbations confound post-restoration assessment. Wetlands 23:278–290
Reiskind MH, Wilson ML (2004) Culex restuans (Diptera: Culicidae) oviposition behavior determined by larval habitat quality and quantity in southeastern Michigan. J Med Entomol 41:179–186
Resetarits WJ, Wilbur HM (1989) Choice of oviposition site by Hyla chrysoscelis: role of predators and competitors. Ecology 70:220–228
Sanzo D, Hecnar SJ (2006) Effects of road de-icing salt (NaCl) on larval wood frogs (Rana sylvatica). Environ Pollut 140:247–256
Sarma SSS, Nandini S, Morales-Ventura J, Delgado-Martínez I, González-Valverde L (2006) Effects of NaCl salinity on the population dynamics of freshwater zooplankton (rotifers and cladocerans). Aquat Ecol 40:1386–2588
Sours GN, Petranka JW (2007) Intraguild predation and competition mediate stage-structured interactions between wood frog (Rana sylvatica) and upland chorus frog (Pseudacris feriarum) larvae. Copeia 2007:131–139
Stav G, Blaustein L, Margalith Y (2000) Influence of nymphal Anax imperator (Odonata: Aeshnidae) on oviposition by the mosquito Culiseta longiareolata (Diptera: Culicidae) and temporary pool community structure. J Vector Ecol 25:190–202
Turtle SL (2000) Embryonic survivorship of the spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) in roadside and woodland vernal pools in southeastern New Hampshire. J Herp 34:60–67
Waterkeyn A, Grillas P, Vanschoenwinkel B, Brendonck L (2008) Invertebrate community patterns in Mediterranean temporary wetlands along hydroperiod and salinity gradients. Freshwat Biol 53:1808–1822
Williams WD (1999) Salinisation: A major threat to water resources in the arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Lakes Reservoirs: Res Manage 4:85–91
Williams DD, Williams NE, Cao Y (1999) Road salt contamination of groundwater in a major metropolitan area and development of a biological index to monitor its impact. Water Res 34:127–138
Acknowledgments
We thank Brian Byrd for help with identifying mosquitoes and Ryan Devine and Emmalee West for their field assistance.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Petranka, J.W., Doyle, E.J. Effects of road salts on the composition of seasonal pond communities: can the use of road salts enhance mosquito recruitment?. Aquat Ecol 44, 155–166 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-009-9286-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-009-9286-z