ArticleRoyal Society open science2015
Clover root exudate produces male-biased sex ratios and accelerates male metamorphic timing in wood frogs.
Article in Royal Society open science, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Higher Sex-Reversal Rate of Urban Frogs in a Common-Garden Experiment Suggests Adaptive Microevolution.Evolutionary applications · 2025Article
- Assessment of Sublethal Effects of Neonicotinoid Insecticides on the Life-History Traits of 2 Frog Species.Environmental toxicology and chemistry · 2019Article
- Article
- Plant-Microbe Interaction: Transcriptional Response of Bacillus Mycoides to Potato Root Exudates.Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE · 2018Article
- Hormonally active phytochemicals and vertebrate evolution.Evolutionary applications · 2017Article
- Sex-linked markers in the North American green frog (Rana clamitans) developed using DArTseq provide early insight into sex chromosome evolution.BMC genomics · 2016Article
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Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In amphibians, abnormal metamorph sex ratios and sexual development have almost exclusively been considered in response to synthetic compounds like pesticides or pharmaceuticals. However, endocrine-active plant chemicals (i.e. phytoestrogens) are commonly found in agricultural and urban waterways hosting frog populations with deviant sexual development. Yet the effects of these compounds on amphibian development remain predominantly unexplored. Legumes, like clover, are common in agricultural fields and urban yards and exude phytoestrogen mixtures from their roots. These root exudates serve important ecological functions and may also be a source of phytoestrogens in waterways. I show that clover root exudate produces male-biased sex ratios and accelerates male metamorphosis relative to females in low and intermediate doses of root exudate. My results indicate that root exudates are a potential source of contaminants impacting vertebrate development and that humans may be cultivating sexual abnormalities in wildlife by actively managing certain plant species.
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Registered trials
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