Data from: Proximity to agriculture is correlated with pesticide tolerance: evidence for the evolution of amphibian resistance to modern pesticides

Anthropogenic environmental change is a powerful and ubiquitous evolutionary force, so it is critical that we determine the extent to which organisms can evolve in response to anthropogenic environmental change and whether these evolutionary responses have associated costs. This issue is particularly relevant for species of conservation concern including many amphibians, which are experiencing global declines from many causes including widespread exposure to agrochemicals. We used a lab toxicity experiment to assess variation in sensitivity to two pesticides among wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) populations and a mesocosm experiment to ascertain whether resistance to pesticides is associated with decreased performance when animals experience competition and fear of predation. We discovered that wood frog populations closer to agriculture were more resistant to a common insecticide (chlorpyrifos) but not to a common herbicide (Roundup). We also found no evidence that this resistance carried a performance cost when facing competition and the fear of predation. To our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating that organophosphate insecticide (the most commonly applied class of insecticides in the world) resistance increases with agricultural land use in an amphibian, which is consistent with an evolutionary response to agrochemicals.

人为环境变化是一种强力且普遍存在的进化驱动力，因此明确生物体对人为环境变化的进化响应幅度，以及这类进化响应是否伴随适应性代价，是至关重要的研究课题。这一问题对于诸多受保护关注物种而言尤为关键，其中包括众多两栖动物——当前全球两栖动物种群因多种因素出现衰退，其中就包括广泛接触农用化学品。本研究通过室内毒性实验，评估了林蛙（Lithobates sylvaticus）不同种群对两种农药的敏感性差异；同时借助中宇宙实验（mesocosm）探究，当动物面临竞争与捕食者恐惧时，农药抗性是否会伴随生存表现的下降。研究发现，距离农业活动区域更近的林蛙种群，对常见杀虫剂毒死蜱（chlorpyrifos）的抗性更强，但对常见除草剂农达（Roundup）则无此抗性差异。同时，本研究未发现，在面临竞争与捕食者恐惧的情境下，这类农药抗性会带来生存表现的适应性代价。据我们所知，本研究首次证实，两栖动物对有机磷杀虫剂（organophosphate insecticide，全球应用最广泛的杀虫剂类别）的抗性会随农业用地占比的提升而增强，这一结果与农用化学品驱动的进化响应假说相符。