ABSTRACT
Over the last 15 years ecologists have become increasingly focused on the effects of environmental pollutants on amphibians. Much of this interest has grown from concerns about the status of amphibian populations and the possibility that environmental contaminants could contribute to population declines at both local and regional scales (Sparling et al. 2001; Davidson et al. 2002; Collins and Storfer 2003; Stuart et al. 2004; Davidson 2004; Fellers et al. 2004; Lannoo 2005). In other cases, ecologists have realized that certain pollutants can be used to test fundamental ecological questions pertaining to amphibian interactions with other community constituents (Boone and James 2005; Relyea 2005; Relyea and Hoverman 2006). Taken together, the recent infusion of ecology into toxicology, and vice versa, has given rise to a wealth of published studies with exciting and sometimes unpredictable findings. Perhaps most notably, studies repeatedly demonstrate that amphibians respond quite differently to compounds in the field than in the laboratory. These situational differences occur for a variety of reasons, the most important of which are duration and mode of exposure, and because effects on amphibians are often mediated through impacts cascading through other community constituents. These important advances by ecologists have caused many to reevaluate current toxicological paradigms as we move forward to determine whether pollutants affect amphibians at the population level (Hopkins 2007).
