Ultraviolet-B irradiance and cumulative dose combine to determine performance and survival.
J Photochem Photobiol B
; 222: 112276, 2021 Sep.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34358884
ABSTRACT
Despite decades of research, the role of elevated solar ultraviolet-B radiation (UVBR; 280-315 nm) in shaping amphibian populations remains ambiguous. These difficulties stem partly from a poor understanding of which parameters of UVBR exposure - dose, irradiance, and time interval - determine UVBR exposure health risk, and the potentially erroneous assumption that effects are proportional to the dose of exposure, irrespective of the administered regime (Bunsen-Roscoe Law of Reciprocity; BRL). We tested if the BRL holds with respect to UVBR-induced physiological effects in amphibians by acutely exposing tadpoles of the Australian green tree frog (Litoria caerulea) to a combination of different UVBR irradiances and doses in a fully factorial experiment. The BRL was invalid across all metrics assessed, with UVBR irradiance influencing the effects of a given dose on growth, coloration and burst swimming performance of larvae. We demonstrated some of the first empirical evidence for beneficial physiological effects of UVBR exposure in a larval amphibian, with improvements in growth, burst swimming performance and survival at the highest UVBR doses, contrary to hypotheses. Our findings demonstrate the species-specific nature of amphibian responses to UVBR, and the importance of UVBR irradiance in influencing the long-term physiological effects of a given dose of radiation. This work enhances our understanding of which parameters of complex UVBR exposures determine amphibian health risk.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Ultraviolet Rays
/
Larva
Limits:
Animals
Country/Region as subject:
Oceania
Language:
En
Journal:
J Photochem Photobiol B
Journal subject:
BIOLOGIA
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article