RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Idiosyncratic liver alterations of five frog species to land use changes in the Brazilian Cerrado
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 837534
DO 10.1101/837534
A1 Lilian Franco-Belussi
A1 Diogo B. Provete
A1 Rinneu Elias Borges
A1 Classius de Oliveira
A1 Lia Raquel de Souza Santos
YR 2019
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/11/25/837534.abstract
AB Changes in land use trigger environmental changes that can lead to decreased biodiversity and species loss. The liver is an essential detoxification organ that reflects systemic physiological responses to environmental changes. Here, we tested whether land use changes influence the amount of substances from the hepatic cellular catabolism and melanomacrophages of five anuran species in the Brazilian Cerrado. We used routine histological and histochemical techniques. We then use recently developed ecological methods to relate functional traits to environmental variables. There was an increase in the amount of melanin in environments with high proportion of agriculture, as well as variation in the amount of lipofuscin and hemosiderin. Therefore, the area of melanomacrophages in the liver and the metabolic products in their cytoplasm can be used as biomarkers of environmental contamination in regions with intense agricultural activities. Our results add a new perspective to the influence of land use changes on environmental health by highlighting the effect of environmental changes on internal morphological aspects of animals.HighlightsChanges in land use promote amphibian declines worldwideOur study focused on the biosphere, anthroposphere, and hydrosphereWe used method to test for trait-environment relationshipSpecies responded differently to land use changeLand use change can affect internal morphology and physiology of organisms