CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Mining activity is an important cause of physicochemical,biological, and landscape alterations. Several studies involvingdisturbed environments confirmed the modification of demographic traitsin anuran populations. The current study aimed to assess the effects ofnatural and artificial surface waters associated with a fluorite mine onthe body size and life history traits of Rhinella arenarum and Boanacordobae. Sampling was done in three areas: stream running on graniticrock, with medium natural fluoride content (CN); stream running onmetamorphic rock, with low natural fluoride content (LV); and artificialdecantation pond (DP) with large variation in physicochemical parameters.Adult individuals of the two anuran species were measured and weighed,and their body condition (BC) was calculated. Life history traits wereassessed using the skeletochronology method. Individuals from DP weighedsignificantly heavier than individuals from streams. The BC index in R.arenarum was higher at LV, whereas in B. cordobae, a higher index wasobtained at both LV and DP. The average age differs between sites in B.cordobae but not in R. arenarum. Growth coefficient was higher foraltered environment in both species (CN; DP), whereas the estimatedSVLmax was slightly higher in populations from less disturbed sites (LV).The most affected species was B. cordobae. Therefore, for future studies,it is important to know the biology of sentinel species because not allamphibian species may respond in the same way to similar disturbances.Differences obtained in life history traits may be explained by the lackof survival of larger/older individuals or compensatory growth, requiredto balance fast growth with the costs on survival at more disturbedsites

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