Effects of Treated Wastewater Effluent Irrigation on Terrestrial Salamanders

Authors: Laposata M.M.1; Dunson W.A.2

Source: Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, Volume 119, Numbers 1-4, April 2000 , pp. 45-57(13)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Since 1983, State Game Lands 176 in Centre Co., Pennsylvania, U.S.A., has been spray irrigated with treated wastewater effluent as an alternative to the direct discharge of treated effluent into surface waters. Although the effects of wastewater irrigation on birds and mammals had been studied, its effects on amphibians were unknown. We examined the physiological and behavioral responses of juvenile Jefferson salamanders (Ambystoma jeffersonianum Green) to effluent-irrigated soils and wastewater effluent in the field and laboratory to assess the effects of wastewater irrigation on the terrestrial phase of this species. Salamanders confined to irrigated soils for 35 d showed no difference in six physiological parameters (growth, body water concentration, and body sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium levels) compared to those enclosed on unirrigated soils. Salamanders on wastewater effluent soaked substrates for the same duration in the laboratory had higher body sodium concentration than those on deionized water soaked substrates, likely due to elevated sodium levels in wastewater effluent. Salamanders demonstrated no `preference' for irrigated or unirrigated soils over three days when allowed a choice between the two substrates in behavioral tests. These results suggest wastewater effluent irrigation is not acutely toxic to terrestrial A. jeffersonianum under natural conditions. Long-term adverse effects wastewater irrigation on terrestrial Jefferson salamanders are still possible, and examinations of salamander growth and survival over longer durations are needed to assess the holistic impacts of wastewater spraying on this species.

Keywords: Ambystoma jeffersonianum; ecotoxicology; Jefferson salamander; wastewater

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Department of Biology, 208 Mueller Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, U.S.A. (Author for correspondence, e-mail: mml146@psu.edu) 2: Department of Biology, 208 Mueller Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, U.S.A.

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