With our new contraceptive technologies, we have inadvertently contaminated water supplies with estrogen. This estrogen is great for humans as a synthetic ingredient for the birth control pill, but not good for wildlife living in or around the contaminated waterways. As you all know, the "pill" is used by women to prevent pregnancy, or in other words it greatly decreases their reproductive success. The water that has been contaminated is acting like a "pill" and is having even more damaging effects. The waterways have interferred with the endocrne system of many of the animals that call these places home, like fish, birds, and reptiles. Some symptoms include the presence of both male and female sex organs, feminization of males, malformed reproductive organs, skewed sex ratios, reduced fertility, and more.
Luckly, it has been found by reasearchers from the University of Cincinnati that rabbit food has the ability to absorb estrogen in contaminated water by more than 80 percent! It even absorbed more estrogen in a a 3 day period than clay, starch, casein (protein in cheese and milk), or tryptone (amino acid). These results show that there is now a promising method for removing this extra estrogen that is reeking havoc on the reproductive systems of many animals. Since rabbit food is just shredded plants, the researchers think that other plants will have the same effect. Hopefully all the waterways will eventually be estrogen free and these cute animals can continue to procreate and send their genes onto the next generation.
-Katie Cyr (A)
I find this article to be very interesting, and eye-opening. I knew estrogen had major effects on various species of fish, however I had no idea that it had such negative effects on reptiles and birds as well. Does the absorption of estrogen only occur by shredded plants, or can whole, living plants absorb estrogen too? If so, this solidifies the importance of riparian ecotones in filtering out such negative chemicals from the environment.
ReplyDeleteAbbie Lamarre-DeJesus
Interesting topic, and I wonder how they thought to try rabbit food....
ReplyDeleteIt definitely looks like estrogen affects the development and physiology of many different species, but can you tie its effects to animal behavior or communication?
-Alex Sprague
Also, how does estrogen get into the water supply?
Alex, Some of the estrogen comes from people discarding pills through the toilet. People flush unused medication and ingredients like estrogen are not completely filtered out by water treatment plants. Naturally occurring estrogen comes from livestock urine and feces that leaks into the groundwater. Also, extra estrogen is excreted by women who are taking pills cntaining estrogen. Surprisingly there has been estrogen like compounds found in plastic bottles and insecticides, which can also cause estrogento leak into the groundwater. This ties directly to animal communication because with estogen contamination, it could cause feminitization. This could directly effect the abiity for an animal to attract a mate by calls for example. If it's not calling corretly it will die without passing on its genes to the next generation.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2300573/estrogen_levels_in_water_alarm_scientists.html?cat=58
Abbie, I was unable to find any aricles that stated riverside plants were able to remove estrogen as well. have a feeling the bunny food acts like a really good sponge. The only way plant could take it up I think is if it uses the estrogen for life processes. It would be a good finding though.
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ReplyDeleteWow this is a thought provoking article. Imagine if we had not found ways to reduce the estrogen, or maybe just think of the damage already done. Do you think that the animals would eventually evolve to handle higher levels of estrogen in their systems? What would the natural selecting agent come to be? Thanks for sharing this article. :)
ReplyDelete-Meesha
We don't really think about the consequences of our actions do we? It would never come to my mind that estrogen would affect the reprodution of the surrounding wildlife, but it completely makes sense! From what I understand it is also causing human males to become less fertile.
ReplyDelete-Meghan Nichols
Do you know what chemical bonds are created between the rabbit food and the estrogen that cause the rabbit food to be so effective?
ReplyDeleteahmed sandakli