Hormone in Manure Are Changing Fish Genders:
In Indiana, recent studies in agricultural streams have shown that the ratio of male-to-female fish has been skewed. The streams have become contaminated with runoff from the fertilizer, which contains manure, causing the hormones in the manure to become dissolved into the streams. Purdue University researchers raised fathead minnows in samples from Indiana agricultural streams, and ended up with sixty percent males, when uncontaminated streams contain forty eight percent males. The hormones released by the farm animals, testosterone and estrogen, are being found in eighty percent of the water samples from the agricultural streams. These hormones could be linked to the skewed ratio of genders in the fish populations. These fish populations also came with fifty percent less diversity, along with twenty eight percent higher adult death rate than the streams that were not exposed to these hormones. These sets of data that were collected were supported by the all male population of zebra fish in a 2006 lab study by the University of Southern Denmark, and also by a 2004 study in Orlando, where lower testosterone levels and sexually immature fish were observed. While this information has not been able to be proven true, Indiana still believes that regulations need to be altered to reduce their affect on the streams.
In Indiana, recent studies in agricultural streams have shown that the ratio of male-to-female fish has been skewed. The streams have become contaminated with runoff from the fertilizer, which contains manure, causing the hormones in the manure to become dissolved into the streams. Purdue University researchers raised fathead minnows in samples from Indiana agricultural streams, and ended up with sixty percent males, when uncontaminated streams contain forty eight percent males. The hormones released by the farm animals, testosterone and estrogen, are being found in eighty percent of the water samples from the agricultural streams. These hormones could be linked to the skewed ratio of genders in the fish populations. These fish populations also came with fifty percent less diversity, along with twenty eight percent higher adult death rate than the streams that were not exposed to these hormones. These sets of data that were collected were supported by the all male population of zebra fish in a 2006 lab study by the University of Southern Denmark, and also by a 2004 study in Orlando, where lower testosterone levels and sexually immature fish were observed. While this information has not been able to be proven true, Indiana still believes that regulations need to be altered to reduce their affect on the streams.