Frog Gonad as bio-indicator of Sarno River Health

The Sarno River is affected by an extreme environmental degradation as a result of uncontrolled agricultural activities and the outflow of industrial waste. Changes in the abundance indexes and biodiversity of frogs can be used as a measuring tool to determine water quality of the Sarno River. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the potential in using frog tissue as environmental indicators and to monitor changes in water quality of local streams in the development area of Sarno River. Thus, many samples are collected from sedi-ment, water and frogs for metals analysis. To identify any differentiations of bioaccumulation of metals we have been analyzed skin and gonad of the more representative frog specie along the Sarno river, the barcoded Pelophylax bergeri. Results show that the degree of pol-lution in the Sarno river varies by zone, as well as by metal to metal, with contents that often are very elevated in frogs and higher in water than sediment. The concentrations of heavy metals, especially Arsenic (As) Chromium (Cr) and Zinc (Zn) were found higher in testis than skin of the collected frogs. Therefore, our results sustain the important role of frog gonads as a good bio-indicator of pollution. Frogs, Pelo-phylax bergeri, and water of Sarno River are very contaminated by arsenic and need to be urgently remediated.