Salting roads harms frog numbers by changing their sex

Salting roads and pavements during winter damages frog populations by turning would-be females into males, a major new study warns.  Naturally occurring chemicals used in de-icing substances find their way into ponds, where the amphibians breed, and change the sex of young frogs during early development. Experts at Yale University found that gritting can reduce the number of female frogs by 10 per cent in a given area, as well as harming the quality of their eggs and size of their offspring.