ABSTRACT

Atrazine is one of the most widely used pesticides on a global basis. It is the most common pesticide detected in surface and ground water in the continental United States (Gillion et al. 2007). In areas with high corn production, atrazine concentrations in streams range as high as 3-to 10-fold greater than the 3 μg/L US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) drinking water standard (Thurman et al. 1991; USEPA 2006). While it is not highly persistent, atrazine is used often enough and persists long enough that amphibians, and to a lesser extent reptiles, can be exposed as eggs, juveniles, and adults to intermittent yet chronic concentrations of it throughout their lifetime. The effects of atrazine on amphibians in particular have received wide attention in recent years (Kiesecker 2002; Hayes et al. 2002, 2003, 2006a, 2006b; Hayes 2004; Hecker et al. 2004, 2005a, 2005b, 2006; Rohr et al. 2008a, 2008b), to the extent that the use of atrazine has been reviewed within the United States based solely on its potential to affect gonadal development in amphibians (Steeger et al. 2007). The ecosystems and food webs inhabited by herpetofauna may also be altered by atrazine (Rohr et al. 2008a, 2008b). Here, we explore the impacts of atrazine on the life history, health, and survival of amphibians and reptiles and on the aquatic communities they inhabit.