Abstract
Ranaviruses are an important wildlife pathogen of fish, amphibians, and reptiles. Previous studies have shown that susceptibility and severity of infection can vary with age, host species, virus strain, temperature, population density, and presence of environmental stressors. Experiments are limited with respect to interactions between this pathogen and environmental stressors in reptiles. In this study, we exposed hatchling red-eared slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) to herbicide and ranavirus treatments to examine direct effects and interactions on growth, morbidity, and mortality. Turtles were assigned to one of three herbicide treatments or a control group. Turtles were exposed to atrazine, Roundup ProMax®, or Rodeo® via water bath during the first 3 weeks of the experiment. After 1 week, turtles were exposed to either a control (cell culture medium) or ranavirus-infected cell lysate via injection into the pectoral muscles. Necropsies were performed upon death or upon euthanasia after 5 weeks. Tissues were collected for histopathology and detection of ranavirus DNA via quantitative PCR. Only 57.5% of turtles exposed to ranavirus tested positive for ranaviral DNA at the time of death. Turtles exposed to ranavirus died sooner and lost more mass and carapace length, but not plastron length, than did controls. Exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of herbicides did not impact infection rate, morbidity, or mortality of hatchling turtles due to ranavirus exposure. We also found no direct effects of herbicide or interactions with ranavirus exposure on growth or survival time. Results of this study should be interpreted in the context of the modest ranavirus infection rate achieved, the general lack of growth, and the unplanned presence of an additional pathogen in our study.
Highlights
Introduction published maps and institutional affilIn the last two decades, biologists have become alarmed about potential impacts of iridoviruses, which infect and can cause mass mortality events in reptiles, amphibians, and fishes [1]
2 = 6.79, df = 3, p = 0.079), there was a nonsignificant trend posed to ranavirus
We found no direct effects of herbicide or interactions with ranavirus exposure on growth or survival time
Summary
In the last two decades, biologists have become alarmed about potential impacts of iridoviruses, which infect and can cause mass mortality events in reptiles, amphibians, and fishes [1]. Iridoviruses are double-stranded DNA viruses that replicate in temperatures ranging from 12–32 ◦ C and may survive several months outside of any host in aquatic environments [2]. Studies on iridovirus pathogenesis and disease ecology have demonstrated that susceptibility and severity of infection vary with age, host species, virus strain, temperature, population density, and presence of environmental stressors [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Iridovirus infections have been reported on several continents and can cause economic damage in commercial freshwater fisheries [9,11,12]. The impact of ranaviruses on reptilian population dynamics is largely unknown, several cases of morbidity iations
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