| circumpolar dynamics of a marine top-predator track ocean warming rates. | global warming is a nonlinear process, and temperature may increase in a stepwise manner. periods of abrupt warming can trigger persistent changes in the state of ecosystems, also called regime shifts. the responses of organisms to abrupt warming and associated regime shifts can be unlike responses to periods of slow or moderate change. understanding of nonlinearity in the biological responses to climate warming is needed to assess the consequences of ongoing climate change. here, we demonstrate ... | 2017 | 28387042 |
| contaminants and energy expenditure in an arctic seabird: organochlorine pesticides and perfluoroalkyl substances are associated with metabolic rate in a contrasted manner. | basal metabolic rate (bmr), the minimal energetic cost of living in endotherms, is known to be influenced by thyroid hormones (ths) which are known to stimulate in vitro oxygen consumption of tissues in birds and mammals. several environmental contaminants may act on energy expenditure through their thyroid hormone-disrupting properties. however, the effect of contaminants on bmr is still poorly documented for wildlife. here, we investigated the relationships between three groups of contaminants ... | 2017 | 28554005 |
| preen secretions encode information on mhc similarity in certain sex-dyads in a monogamous seabird. | animals are known to select mates to maximize the genetic diversity of their offspring in order to achieve immunity against a broader range of pathogens. although several bird species preferentially mate with partners that are dissimilar at the major histocompatibility complex (mhc), it remains unknown whether they can use olfactory cues to assess mhc similarity with potential partners. here we combined gas chromatography data with genetic similarity indices based on mhc to test whether similari ... | 2014 | 25370306 |
| experimentally reduced corticosterone release promotes early breeding in black-legged kittiwakes. | breeding at the right time is important for successful reproduction. in birds, stressful environmental conditions are known to delay the timing of breeding but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. the stress hormone corticosterone appears to be a good candidate for mediating egg-laying date according to early environmental conditions and physiological state. by experimentally reducing the release of corticosterone in black-legged kittiwakes during the pre-laying period, we tested whe ... | 2011 | 21613516 |
| now you see him, now you don't: experience, not age, is related to reproduction in kittiwakes. | in long-lived species, individuals can skip reproduction. the proportion of breeders affects population growth rate and viability, there is a need to investigate the factors influencing intermittent breeding. the theory predicts that if lack of experience is an important constraint, breeding probabilities should increase with experience for individuals of the same age, whereas under the so-called restraint hypothesis, breeding probabilities should increase with age regardless of experience. howe ... | 2011 | 21367783 |
| evidence that pairing with genetically similar mates is maladaptive in a monogamous bird. | evidence of multiple genetic criteria of mate choice is accumulating in numerous taxa. in many species, females have been shown to pair with genetically dissimilar mates or with extra-pair partners that are more genetically compatible than their social mates, thereby increasing their offsprings' heterozygosity which often correlates with offspring fitness. while most studies have focused on genetically promiscuous species, few studies have addressed genetically monogamous species, in which mate ... | 2009 | 19566922 |
| drivers of age-specific survival in a long-lived seabird: contributions of observed and hidden sources of heterogeneity. | 1. we assessed the relative influence of variability in recruitment age, dynamic reproductive investment (time-specific reproductive states) and frailty (unobserved differences in survival abilities across individuals) on survival in the black-legged kittiwake. furthermore, we examined whether observed variability in survival trajectories was best explained by immediate reproductive investment, cumulative investment, or both. 2. individuals that delayed recruitment (≥ age 7) suffered a higher mo ... | 2011 | 21182519 |
| multiple deleterious effects of experimentally aged sperm in a monogamous bird. | sperm aging is known to be detrimental to reproductive performance. however, this apparently general phenomenon has seldom been studied in an evolutionary context. the negative impact of sperm aging on parental fitness should constitute a strong selective pressure for adaptations to avoid its effects. we studied the impact of sperm aging on black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla), a monogamous seabird. kittiwakes comprise a model system because (i) of evidence that females eject their mates' ... | 2008 | 18779581 |
| individual covariation in life-history traits: seeing the trees despite the forest. | we investigated the influence of age on survival and breeding rates in a long-lived species rissa tridactyla using models with individual random effects permitting variation and covariation in fitness components among individuals. differences in survival or breeding probabilities among individuals are substantial, and there was positive covariation between survival and breeding probability; birds that were more likely to survive were also more likely to breed, given that they survived. the patte ... | 2002 | 18707403 |
| interannual variability of black-legged kittiwake productivity is reflected in baseline plasma corticosterone. | seabird productivity is shaped by marine resource availability. we examined the link between seabird productivity and an indirect measure of food availability: baseline plasma corticosterone. we predicted low productivity would coincide with elevated baseline corticosterone levels in black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla). during a 5-year period of declining kittiwake productivity in chiniak bay, kodiak island, alaska, we found increasing baseline corticosterone levels during both incubation ... | 2007 | 17161400 |
| public information affects breeding dispersal in a colonial bird: kittiwakes cue on neighbours. | habitat selection and dispersal behaviour are key processes in evolutionary ecology. recent studies have suggested that individuals may use the reproductive performance of conspecifics as a source of public information on breeding patch quality for dispersal decisions, but experimental evidence is still limited for species breeding in aggregates, i.e. colonial species. we addressed this issue by manipulating the local breeding success of marked individuals and that of their neighbours on a serie ... | 2008 | 18647711 |
| the role of parent-offspring interactions during and after fledging in the black-legged kittiwake. | most bird species endure a high mortality at fledging, and selection should favour parental behaviour diminishing these costs. post-fledging parental care varies greatly among species and is often linked to parent-offspring recognition. in the black-legged kittiwake (rissa tridactyla), fledglings need to return to the natal nest to be fed by their parents until independence. rejections of fledglings by non-parent adults may be fairly violent, and parents are expected to recognize and help their ... | 2008 | 18457925 |
| effects of food availability on yolk androgen deposition in the black-legged kittiwake (rissa tridactyla), a seabird with facultative brood reduction. | in birds with facultative brood reduction, survival of the junior chick is thought to be regulated primarily by food availability. in black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla) where parents and chicks are provided with unlimited access to supplemental food during the breeding season, brood reduction still occurs and varies interannually. survival of the junior chick is therefore affected by factors in addition to the amount of food directly available to them. maternally deposited yolk androgens ... | 2013 | 23675443 |
| food availability affects onset of reproduction in a long-lived seabird. | life-history theory predicts that suboptimal developmental conditions may lead to faster life histories (younger age at recruitment and higher reproductive investment), but experimental testing of this prediction is still scarce in long-lived species. we report the effects of an experimental manipulation of food availability during early development and at recruitment on the onset of reproduction and reproductive performance (productivity at first breeding) in a long-lived seabird, the black-leg ... | 2013 | 23576791 |
| age-related differences in the cloacal microbiota of a wild bird species. | gastrointestinal bacteria play a central role in the health of animals. the bacteria that individuals acquire as they age may therefore have profound consequences for their future fitness. however, changes in microbial community structure with host age remain poorly understood. we characterised the cloacal bacteria assemblages of chicks and adults in a natural population of black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla), using molecular methods. | 2013 | 23531085 |
| thyroid hormones correlate with basal metabolic rate but not field metabolic rate in a wild bird species. | thyroid hormones (th) are known to stimulate in vitro oxygen consumption of tissues in mammals and birds. hence, in many laboratory studies a positive relationship between th concentrations and basal metabolic rate (bmr) has been demonstrated whereas evidence from species in the wild is scarce. even though basal and field metabolic rates (fmr) are often thought to be intrinsically linked it is still unknown whether a relationship between th and fmr exists. here we determine the relationship betw ... | 2013 | 23437096 |
| maternal androgens increase sibling aggression, dominance, and competitive ability in the siblicidal black-legged kittiwake (rissa tridactyla). | animals and plants routinely produce more offspring than they can afford to rear. mothers can favour certain young by conferring on them competitive advantages such as a leading position in the birth sequence, more resources or hormones. avian mothers create hatching asynchrony within a clutch and at the same time bestow the eggs with different concentrations of androgens that may enhance or counteract the competitive advantage experienced by early-hatching "core" young. in siblicidal birds, cor ... | 2012 | 23112843 |
| relationships between pops and baseline corticosterone levels in black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla) across their breeding cycle. | chronic exposure to persistent organic pollutants (pops) in wildlife might alter the response to environmental changes through interference with the regulation of stress hormones. here, we examined the relationship between blood concentrations of several pops and baseline plasma corticosterone levels in the black-legged kittiwake (rissa tridactyla) during three distinct periods in the breeding season. the concentrations of pops and corticosterone increased, whereas body mass decreased progressiv ... | 2012 | 22366481 |
| application of the two-sample doubly labelled water method alters behaviour and affects estimates of energy expenditure in black-legged kittiwakes. | despite the widespread use of the doubly labelled water (dlw) method in energetic studies of free-ranging animals, effects of the method on study animals are rarely assessed. we studied behavioural effects of two alternative dlw protocols. during two consecutive breeding seasons, 42 parent black-legged kittiwakes received either the commonly used two-sample (ts) or the less invasive single-sample (ss) dlw treatment. a third group served as a non-treated control. we evaluated the effect of treatm ... | 2010 | 20709924 |
| [characteristics of protein hydrolysis on the digestive-transport surfaces of the intestine of the kittiwake rissa tridactyla and alcataenia larina (cestoda, dilepididae) parasitizing it]. | investigation of the activity of proteolytic enzymes functioning on the digestive-transport surfaces of the intestine of infected and noninfected kittiwakes rissa tridactyla and cestodes alcataenia larina (cestoda, dilepididae) parasitizing it was conducted. the protease activities depending on the ph values in the intestine of gulls and tapeworms were determined. the dynamics of desorption of enzymes of protein hydrolysis from the surface of the cestodes a. larina and the kittiwake intestine wa ... | 2016 | 22117422 |
| stress and the timing of breeding: glucocorticoid-luteinizing hormones relationships in an arctic seabird. | in birds, stressful environmental conditions delay the timing of breeding but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. the stress hormone corticosterone appears to be a good candidate for mediating the decision to breed and when to start egg-laying, via a possible inhibition of luteinizing hormone (lh) and sex-steroids production. we used luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (lhrh) challenge in pre-laying male and female black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla) to test whether lh and ... | 2010 | 20688061 |
| semiochemical compounds of preen secretion reflect genetic make-up in a seabird species. | several vertebrates choose their mate according to genetic heterozygosity and relatedness, and use odour cues to assess their conspecifics' genetic make-up. in birds, although several species (including the black-legged kittiwake) exhibit non-random mating according to genetic traits, the cues used to assess genetic characteristics remain unknown. the importance of olfaction in birds' social behaviour is gaining attention among researchers, and it has been suggested that, as in other vertebrates ... | 2012 | 21937499 |
| levels and congener pattern of polychlorinated biphenyls in kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla), in relation to mobilization of body-lipids associated with reproduction. | three groups of female kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla) were collected in a north-norwegian colony: (i) before breeding; (ii) immediately after egg-laying; and (iii) late in the chick-rearing period. concentrations of 21 selected individual polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs) were determined in liver, brain and fat tissues by capillary gaschromatography (gc-ecd). this was done in order to investigate how the mobilization of lipids associated with breeding influences concentrations and compositions of ... | 1996 | 15091408 |
| unusual mass mortality of juvenile kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla). | | 1992 | 1621344 |
| [the uropygial gland wax from the kittiwake (rissa tridactyla)]. | | 1972 | 4403592 |
| integument coloration signals reproductive success, heterozygosity, and antioxidant levels in chick-rearing black-legged kittiwakes. | carotenoid pigments are important for immunity and as antioxidants, and carotenoid-based colors are believed to provide honest signals of individual quality. other colorless but more efficient antioxidants such as vitamins a and e may protect carotenoids from bleaching. carotenoid-based colors have thus recently been suggested to reflect the concentration of such colorless antioxidants, but this has rarely been tested. furthermore, although evidence is accruing for multiple genetic criteria for ... | 2011 | 21792598 |
| assessing hypotheses about nesting site occupancy dynamics. | hypotheses about habitat selection developed in the evolutionary ecology framework assume that individuals, under some conditions, select breeding habitat based on expected fitness in different habitat. the relationship between habitat quality and fitness may be reflected by breeding success of individuals, which may in turn be used to assess habitat quality. habitat quality may also be assessed via local density: if high-quality sites are preferentially used, high density may reflect high-quali ... | 2011 | 21661556 |
| metabolic adjustments in breeding female kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla) include changes in kidney metabolic intensity. | black-legged kittiwakes (blkis) reduce self-maintenance cost through reductions in mass-specific basal metabolic rate (bmr), body mass and the size of visceral organs during the chick-rearing period. in the present study, we measured kidney in vitro oxygen consumption and plasma 3,3',5-triiodo-l: -thyronine (t3) levels of incubating and chick-rearing female blkis, to test whether the decrease in bmr is caused mainly by decreased metabolic intensity or simply by reductions in the size of organs w ... | 2008 | 18437391 |
| long-term survival effect of corticosterone manipulation in black-legged kittiwakes. | the secretion of corticosterone in response to stress is thought to be an adaptive mechanism, which promotes immediate survival at the expense of current reproduction. however, at the individual level, the hypothesis of a corticosterone-related survival appears to be complex. in this study, we tested this hypothesis by combining for the first time an experimental manipulation of corticosterone levels and capture-mark-recapture (cmr) models. to do so, we increased corticosterone levels of chick-r ... | 2010 | 20338171 |
| interannual variation in the adrenal responsiveness of black-legged kittiwake chicks (rissa tridactyla). | over the last decade, field endocrinologists have explored the efficacy of using plasma corticosterone concentrations of breeding seabirds as an indicator of food availability and predictor of breeding success. however, studies have been predominately confined to adults and the results have been inconsistent. we examined the relationship between the productivity of black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla) and the baseline and stress-induced corticosterone levels of 12-15 day-old kittiwake chic ... | 2008 | 18308320 |
| evidence for an intrinsic energetic ceiling in free-ranging kittiwakes rissa tridactyla. | 1. the rate at which free-living animals can expend energy is limited but the causes of this limitation are not well understood. theoretically, energy expenditure may be intrinsically limited by physiological properties of the animal constraining its capacity to process energy. alternatively, the limitation could be set extrinsically by the amount of energy available in the environment or by a fitness trade-off in terms of reduced future survival associated with elevated metabolism. 2. we measur ... | 2010 | 19817918 |
| consequences of recruitment decisions and heterogeneity on age-specific breeding success in a long-lived seabird. | an individual's age at first reproduction and investment in successive reproductive attempts are involved in mechanisms that can impede somatic repair, resulting in a decline in reproductive abilities with age (reproductive senescence). we used long-term data from the black-legged kittiwake, a long-lived seabird, to address the relationship between recruitment age, age-specific breeding success (bs), and reproductive senescence, while accounting for breeding experience and temporal variation in ... | 2009 | 19769127 |
| effect of nestling status and brood size on concentration of corticosterone of free-living kittiwake chicks. | vertebrates respond to perceived stressors through increased plasma concentrations of glucocorticoids. however, there is considerable variation within and across species in the circumstances and degree to which glucocorticoid levels are elevated. we measured baseline and acute stress-induced levels of corticosterone of free-living, black-legged kittiwake chicks (rissa tridactyla) across four consecutive breeding seasons in the northern gulf of alaska to determine the effect of hatching order and ... | 2010 | 19699742 |
| corticosterone and time-activity budget: an experiment with black-legged kittiwakes. | in vertebrates, the well established increase in plasma corticosterone in response to food shortage is thought to mediate adjustments of foraging behavior and energy allocation to environmental conditions. however, investigating the functional role of corticosterone is often constrained by the difficulty to track time-activity budget of free-ranging animals. to examine how an experimental increase in corticosterone affects the activity budget of male black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla), w ... | 2007 | 17707380 |
| food availability affects the maternal transfer of androgens and antibodies into eggs of a colonial seabird. | mothers can improve the quality of their offspring by increasing the level of certain components in their eggs. to examine whether or not mothers increase deposition of such components in eggs as a function of food availability, we food-supplemented black-legged kittiwake females (rissa tridactyla) before and during egg laying and compared deposition of androgens and antibodies into eggs of first and experimentally induced replacement clutches. food-supplemented females transferred lower amounts ... | 2007 | 17465898 |
| plastic debris as nesting material in a kittiwake-(rissa tridactyla)-colony at the jammerbugt, northwest denmark. | this paper continues the investigations of clemens and hartwig from 1992 on the proportion of garbage used as nesting material in the kittiwake colony at bulbjerg in the jammerbugt in northwest denmark. whereas in the year 1992 plastic garbage items were included in 39.3% of 466 kittiwake nests in the bulbjerg colony, in 2005 57.2% of 311 nests contained plastic debris. although it has been forbidden to dispose of plastic garbage into the marine environment since the implementation of the marpol ... | 2007 | 17391710 |
| kittiwakes strategically reduce investment in replacement clutches. | many life-history traits are expressed interactively in life, but to a varying extent on different occasions. changes in trait expression can be accounted for by differences in the quality of the environment ('environmental constraint' hypothesis) or by strategic adjustments, if the relative contribution of the trait to fitness varies with time ('strategic allocation' hypothesis). in birds, egg production is lower in replacement clutches than in first clutches, but it is unknown whether this red ... | 2006 | 16777751 |
| spatial trends and associated biological responses of organochlorines and brominated flame retardants in hatchlings of north atlantic kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla). | persistent organic pollutants (pops), such as polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs), some organochlorinated pesticides (ocps), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (pbdes), and hexabromocyclododecane (hbcd), were analyzed in yolk sacs of kittiwake (rissa tridactyla) hatchlings from kongsfjorden at svalbard (norwegian arctic; 79 degrees n) and from runde, an island on the coast of norway (62 degrees n). retinol (vitamin a), retinyl palmitate, and alpha-tocopherol (vitamin e) were measured in plasma and live ... | 2006 | 16764485 |
| comparative host-parasite population structures: disentangling prospecting and dispersal in the black-legged kittiwake rissa tridactyla. | although much insight is to be gained through the comparison of the population genetic structures of parasites and hosts, there are, at present, few studies that take advantage of the information on vertebrate life histories available through the consideration of their parasites. here, we examined the genetic structure of a colonial seabird, the black-legged kittiwake (rissa tridactyla) using seven polymorphic microsatellite markers to make inferences about population functioning and intercolony ... | 2005 | 16029481 |
| modulation of prolactin but not corticosterone responses to stress in relation to parental effort in a long-lived bird. | we tested the hypothesis that parental effort modulates the magnitude of corticosterone and prolactin responses to stress in a long-lived bird, the black-legged kittiwake (rissa tridactyla). to do so, we compared corticosterone and prolactin responses to capture/restraint stress between chick-rearing birds and failed breeders (no parental effort). we predicted that (1) the increase in plasma corticosterone levels in response to stress should be lower in chick-rearing birds, (2) the decrease in p ... | 2005 | 15777812 |
| spatial genetic structure of the ectoparasite ixodes uriae within breeding cliffs of its colonial seabird host. | to examine the potential importance of the spatial subdivision of hosts for the functioning of parasite populations, we analysed patterns of local genetic structure within natural populations of the seabird ectoparasite, ixodes uriae, at the scale of the host breeding cliff. the seabird hosts of this parasite nest in dense colonies with a hierarchical spatial organisation (individual nests-breeding cliffs-colony). using eight microsatellite markers and samples from three breeding cliffs of the b ... | 2003 | 14512959 |
| variation in energy expenditure among black-legged kittiwakes: effects of activity-specific metabolic rates and activity budgets. | we sought to determine the effect of variation in time-activity budgets (tabs) and foraging behavior on energy expenditure rates of parent black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla). we quantified tabs using direct observations of radio-tagged adults and simultaneously measured field metabolic rates (fmr) of these same individuals (n=20) using the doubly labeled water technique. estimated metabolic rates of kittiwakes attending their brood at the nest or loafing near the colony were similar (ca. ... | 2013 | 12905124 |
| are corticosterone levels a good indicator of food availability and reproductive performance in a kittiwake colony? | we evaluated the use of corticosterone to gauge forage availability and predict reproductive performance in black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla) breeding in alaska during 1999 and 2000. we modeled the relationship between baseline levels of corticosterone and a suite of individual and temporal characteristics of the sampled birds. we also provided supplemental food to a sample of pairs and compared their corticosterone levels with that of pairs that were not fed. corticosterone levels were ... | 2003 | 12788295 |
| benefits and costs of increased levels of corticosterone in seabird chicks. | seabird chicks respond to food shortages by increasing corticosterone (cort) secretion, which is probably associated with fitness benefits and costs. to examine this, we experimentally increased levels of circulating cort in captive black-legged kittiwake chicks fed ad libitum. we found that cort-implanted chicks begged more frequently and were more aggressive compared to controls. these behavioral modifications must be beneficial to chicks as they facilitate acquisition of food from the parents ... | 2003 | 12614644 |
| the energy economy of the arctic-breeding kittiwake (rissa tridactyla): a review. | the present paper reviews recent studies on changes in body mass, body composition and rates of energy expenditure during the breeding season in the black-legged kittiwake (rissa tridactyla) on svalbard (79 degrees n). the main characteristic of the energy budget is a pronounced decrease in body mass as well as basal metabolic rate (bmr) after the eggs have hatched. while most internal organs lose mass in direct proportion to the general decrease in body mass, the liver and kidney masses decreas ... | 2002 | 12443932 |
| individual variation in field metabolic rate of kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla) during the chick-rearing period. | field metabolic rate (fmr), using the doubly labelled water (dlw) method, was measured in free-ranging adult kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla) early and late in the chick-rearing period at svalbard, norway. individual variation in fmr was analysed by comparing fmr with body mass, sex, nest attendance, chick age, brood size, and basal metabolic rate (bmr). mean fmr of kittiwakes during the chick-rearing period was 27.0+/-0.9 (se) w kg(-1), while the individual variation (calculated as coefficient of ... | 2013 | 11331506 |
| raising young reduces body condition and fat stores in black-legged kittiwakes. | we conducted a manipulative experiment to investigate how raising chicks affects the body condition (body mass scaled by body size) and body composition (percent fat vs. lean mass) of black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla). for 4 consecutive years (1991-1994) we removed eggs from randomly selected nests and then compared adults raising chicks with adults that had their eggs removed. at the end of the chick-rearing period, adults raising chicks were significantly lighter for their size than a ... | 1999 | 28308303 |
| the activity periods and life-cycle of the tick ixodes uriae (acari: ixodidae) in relation to host breeding strategies. | we investigated the timing of seasonal activity of the seabird tick ixodes uriae by examining engorgement rates of off-host ticks and the prevalence of infested common guillemots (uria aalge) and kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla) on the isle of may, scotland. more than 99% of i. uriae fed during the period late april to early august which coincided with the seabird breeding season. no ticks fed in the autumn and winter, and none over-wintered in the engorged state. peak tick feeding activity was dur ... | 1996 | 8684831 |
| new insight into avian papillomavirus ecology and evolution from characterization of novel wild bird papillomaviruses. | viruses in the family papillomaviridae have circular dsdna genomes of approximately 5.7-8.6 kb that are packaged within non-enveloped, icosahedral capsids. the known papillomavirus (pv) representatives infect vertebrates, and there are currently more than 130 recognized pv species in more than 50 genera. we identified 12 novel avian papillomavirus (apv) types in wild birds that could represent five distinct species and two genera. viruses were detected in paired oropharyngeal/cloacal swabs colle ... | 2019 | 31031718 |
| spatial and temporal dynamics of corticosterone and corticosterone binding globulin are driven by environmental heterogeneity. | the question of whether changes in glucocorticoid concentrations reflect consistent changes in physiology associated with transitions between different stages of reproduction, or whether they reflect responses to environmental conditions, is one the central issues in field endocrinology studies. we examined the temporal and spatial dynamics of corticosterone (cort, baseline, and acute stress-induced) and corticosterone binding globulin (cbg) concentrations in blood of black-legged kittiwakes (ri ... | 2008 | 18164297 |
| combined bottom-up and top-down pressures drive catastrophic population declines of arctic skuas in scotland. | understanding drivers of population change is critical for effective species conservation. in the northeast atlantic ocean, recent changes amongst seabird communities are linked to human and climate change impacts on food webs. many species have declined severely, with food shortages, and increased predation reducing productivity. arctic skua stercorarius parasiticus, a kleptoparasite of other seabirds, is one such species. the aim of the study was to determine relative effects of bottom-up and ... | 2018 | 30155905 |
| comparing marine distribution maps for seabirds during the breeding season derived from different survey and analysis methods. | understanding how seabirds use the marine environment is key for marine spatial planning, and maps of their marine distributions derived from transect-based surveys and from tracking of individual bird's movements are increasingly available for the same geographic areas. although the value of integrating these different datasets is well recognised, few studies have undertaken quantitative comparisons of the resulting distributions. here we take advantage of four existing distribution maps and co ... | 2018 | 30157191 |
| temporal trends of legacy organochlorines in eggs of canadian arctic seabirds monitored over four decades. | we compared temporal trends of legacy organochlorine pesticides and pcbs in eggs of five seabird species breeding at prince leopold island in the canadian high arctic. concentrations of most of the major organochlorine groups/compounds have either declined (e.g. σ35pcb, σddt, σcbz, σchl, octachlorostyrene) or shown no consistent directional change (e.g. heptachlor epoxide) since 1975 in eggs of thick-billed murres (uria lomvia), northern fulmars (fulmarus glacialis) and black-legged kittiwakes ( ... | 2019 | 30059916 |
| foot web pentosidine does not covary strongly with age in four species of wild seabirds. | age is an important parameter for a variety of ecological applications, including population viability analyses, contaminants monitoring and targeting of individuals for conservation. while many organisms can be aged by annual rings, dentition and other techniques (i.e., fish otoliths, clam growth rings, mammal tooth wear), there are no minimally invasive biomarkers for accurately aging birds in the wild. for the past century, banding has been the only way to identify a bird of known age, which ... | 2020 | 31923625 |
| variable sea-ice conditions influence trophic dynamics in an arctic community of marine top predators. | sea-ice coverage is a key abiotic driver of annual environmental conditions in arctic marine ecosystems and could be a major factor affecting seabird trophic dynamics. using stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ13c) and nitrogen (δ15n) in eggs of thick-billed murres (uria lomvia), northern fulmars (fulmarus glacialis), glaucous gulls (larus hyperboreus), and black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla), we investigated the trophic ecology of prebreeding seabirds nesting at prince leopold island, nuna ... | 2019 | 31346428 |
| antibiotic-resistant escherichia coli in migratory birds inhabiting remote alaska. | we explored the abundance of antibiotic-resistant escherichia coli among migratory birds at remote sites in alaska and used a comparative approach to speculate on plausible explanations for differences in detection among species. at a remote island site, we detected antibiotic-resistant e. coli phenotypes in samples collected from glaucous-winged gulls (larus glaucescens), a species often associated with foraging at landfills, but not in samples collected from black-legged kittiwakes (rissa trid ... | 2018 | 29230612 |
| a comparison of techniques for classifying behavior from accelerometers for two species of seabird. | the behavior of many wild animals remains a mystery, as it is difficult to quantify behavior of species that cannot be easily followed throughout their daily or seasonal movements. accelerometers can solve some of these mysteries, as they collect activity data at a high temporal resolution (<1 s), can be relatively small (<1 g) so they minimally disrupt behavior, and are increasingly capable of recording data for long periods. nonetheless, there is a need for increased validation of methods to c ... | 2019 | 30962879 |
| increased summer food supply decreases non-breeding movement in black-legged kittiwakes. | individual condition at one stage of the annual cycle is expected to influence behaviour during subsequent stages, yet experimental evidence of food-mediated carry-over effects is scarce. we used a food supplementation experiment to test the effects of food supply during the breeding season on migration phenology and non-breeding behaviour. we provided an unlimited supply of fish to black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla) during their breeding season on middleton island, alaska, monitored rep ... | 2020 | 31937217 |
| red coloration varies with dietary carotenoid access and nutritional condition in kittiwakes. | carotenoid-based ornaments are common signaling features in animals. although the mechanisms that link color-based signals to individual condition is key to understanding the evolution and function of these ornaments, they are most often poorly known. several hypotheses have been posited. they include: (i) the role of foraging abilities on carotenoid acquisition and thereby carotenoid-based ornaments, and (ii) the role of internal processes linked to individual quality on the allocation and conv ... | 2019 | 31597729 |
| breeding synchrony and predator specialization: a test of the predator swamping hypothesis in seabirds. | reproductive synchrony is a widespread phenomenon that is predicted to be adaptive for prey with specialist predators but not for those with generalist ones. i tested this prediction in three polar seabird species characterized by different levels of predator specialization. in the antarctic petrel, for which the only predator was highly specialized, hatching dates were highly synchronous and chicks that hatched close to the mean hatching date had a higher survival. in black-legged kittiwakes an ... | 2019 | 30805171 |
| algal toxins in alaskan seabirds: evaluating the role of saxitoxin and domoic acid in a large-scale die-off of common murres. | elevated seawater temperatures are linked to the development of harmful algal blooms (habs), which pose a growing threat to marine birds and other wildlife. during late 2015 and early 2016, a massive die-off of common murres (uria aalge; hereafter, murres) was observed in the gulf of alaska coincident with a strong marine heat wave. previous studies have documented illness and death among seabirds resulting from exposure to the hab neurotoxins saxitoxin (stx) and domoic acid (da). given the unus ... | 2020 | 32113594 |
| pluck or luck: does trait variation or chance drive variation in lifetime reproductive success? | while there has been extensive interest in how intraspecific trait variation affects ecological processes, outcomes are highly variable even when individuals are identical: some are lucky, while others are not. trait variation is therefore important only if it adds substantially to the variability produced by luck. we ask when trait variation has a substantial effect on variability in lifetime reproductive success (lrs), using two approaches: (1) we partition the variation in lrs into contributi ... | 2018 | 29570408 |
| dna damage in arctic seabirds: baseline, sensitivity to a genotoxic stressor, and association with organohalogen contaminants. | environmental contaminants are found throughout arctic marine ecosystems, and their presence in seabirds has been associated with toxicological responses. however, there are few studies of genotoxicity in arctic avian wildlife. the purpose of the present study was to quantify deoxyribonucleic acid (dna) damage in lymphocytes of selected seabird species and to examine whether accumulation of organohalogen contaminants (σohcs) affects dna damage. blood was sampled from common eider (somateria moll ... | 2017 | 29120089 |
| accelerometry predicts muscle ultrastructure and flight capabilities in a wild bird. | muscle ultrastructure is closely linked with athletic performance in humans and lab animals, and presumably plays an important role in the movement ecology of wild animals. movement is critical for wild animals to forage, escape predators, and reproduce. however, little evidence directly links muscle condition to locomotion in the wild. we used gps-accelerometers to examine flight behaviour and muscle biopsies in breeding black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla) to assess muscle ultrastructure ... | 2020 | 33071216 |
| muscle fiber structure in an aging long-lived seabird, the black-legged kittiwake (rissa tridactyla). | many long-lived animals do not appear to show classic signs of aging, perhaps because they show negligible senescence until dying from "catastrophic" mortality. muscle senescence is seldom examined in wild animals, yet decline in muscle function is one of the first signs of aging in many lab animals and humans. seabirds are an excellent study system for physiological implications of aging because they are long-lived animals that actively forage and reproduce in the wild. here, we examined linkag ... | 2019 | 31077454 |
| polycyclic aromatic compounds (pacs) and trace elements in four marine bird species from northern canada in a region of natural marine oil and gas seeps. | there is a growing understanding of how oil pollution can affect aquatic ecosystems, including physical and chemical effects. one of the biggest challenges with detecting the effects of oil-related contaminants on biota from resource development is understanding the background levels and potential effects of the exposure of biota to contaminants from various natural and anthropogenic sources prior to large scale oil and gas operations. seabirds are effective indicators of pollution, and can be u ... | 2020 | 32711326 |
| plastic ingestion by four seabird species in the canadian arctic: comparisons across species and time. | plastic pollution ingestion by seabirds is an increasing environmental problem even in remote areas such as the arctic, yet knowledge on plastic pollution ingestion by several arctic seabirds is limited, making it difficult to assess trends. we examined plastic pollution ingestion by northern fulmars (fulmarus glacialis), black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla), thick-billed murres (uria lomvia) and black guillemots (cepphus grylle) in the canadian arctic to assess species-specific and tempor ... | 2020 | 32568085 |
| utility of time-lapse photography in studies of seabird ecology. | marine ecosystems are heavily influenced by a wide range of human-related impacts, and thus monitoring is essential to preserve and manage these sensitive habitats. seabirds are considered important bioindicators of the oceans, but accessing breeding populations can be difficult, expensive and time consuming. new technologies have been employed to facilitate data collection on seabirds that can reduce costs and minimize disturbance. among these, the use of time-lapse photography is a potentially ... | 2018 | 30540854 |
| higher plasma oxidative damage and lower plasma antioxidant defences in an arctic seabird exposed to longer perfluoroalkyl acids. | perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (pfass) may cause detrimental effects on physiological function and reproduction of arctic animals. however, there is a paucity of information on the link between pfass and oxidative stress, which can have potential detrimental effects on key fitness traits, such as cellular homeostasis or reproduction. we have examined the correlations between multiple blood-based markers of oxidative status and several perfluoroalkyl acids (i.e., with 8 or more car ... | 2019 | 30366280 |
| organochlorines, perfluoroalkyl substances, mercury, and egg incubation temperature in an arctic seabird: insights from data loggers. | in birds, incubation-related behaviors and brood patch formation are influenced by hormonal regulation such as prolactin secretion. brood patch provides efficient heat transfer between the incubating parent and the developing embryo in the egg. importantly, several environmental contaminants are already known to have adverse effects on avian reproduction. however, relatively little is known about the effect of contaminants on incubation temperature (tinc ) in wild birds. by using temperature the ... | 2018 | 30094864 |
| persistent organic pollutants and organophosphate esters in feathers and blood plasma of adult kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla) from svalbard - associations with body condition and thyroid hormones. | polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (pbdes), organochlorine pesticides (ocps) and organophosphate esters (opes) were assessed in blood plasma and feathers of 19 adult black-legged kittiwakes (rissa tridactyla) breeding in two colonies (blomstrandhalvøya and krykkjefjellet) at the arctic archipelago, svalbard. potential associations with body condition index (bci) and thyroid hormones were investigated. all compound classes were detected in both blood plasma and feath ... | 2018 | 29499468 |
| taking a trip to the shelf: behavioral decisions are mediated by the proximity to foraging habitats in the black-legged kittiwake. | for marine top predators like seabirds, the oceans represent a multitude of habitats regarding oceanographic conditions and food availability. worldwide, these marine habitats are being altered by changes in climate and increased anthropogenic impact. this is causing a growing concern on how seabird populations might adapt to these changes. understanding how seabird populations respond to fluctuating environmental conditions and to what extent behavioral flexibility can buffer variations in food ... | 2018 | 29375761 |
| black-legged kittiwakes as messengers of atlantification in the arctic. | climate warming is rapidly altering marine ecosystems towards a more temperate state on the european side of the arctic. however, this "atlantification" has rarely been confirmed, as long-term datasets on arctic marine organisms are scarce. we present a 19-year time series (1982-2016) of diet samples from black-legged kittiwakes as an indicator of the changes in a high arctic marine ecosystem (kongsfjorden, svalbard). our results highlight a shift from arctic prey dominance until 2006 to a more ... | 2018 | 29352216 |
| ecological costs of climate change on marine predator-prey population distributions by 2050. | identifying and quantifying the effects of climate change that alter the habitat overlap of marine predators and their prey population distributions is of great importance for the sustainable management of populations. this study uses bayesian joint models with integrated nested laplace approximation (inla) to predict future spatial density distributions in the form of common spatial trends of predator-prey overlap in 2050 under the "business-as-usual, worst-case" climate change scenario. this w ... | 2020 | 32015865 |
| bayesian joint models with inla exploring marine mobile predator-prey and competitor species habitat overlap. | understanding spatial physical habitat selection driven by competition and/or predator-prey interactions of mobile marine species is a fundamental goal of spatial ecology. however, spatial counts or density data for highly mobile animals often (1) include excess zeros, (2) have spatial correlation, and (3) have highly nonlinear relationships with physical habitat variables, which results in the need for complex joint spatial models. in this paper, we test the use of bayesian hierarchical hurdle ... | 2017 | 29242741 |
| sex and hatching order modulate the association between mhc-ii diversity and fitness in early-life stages of a wild seabird. | genes of the major histocompatibility complex (mhc) play a pivotal role in parasite resistance, and their allelic diversity has been associated with fitness variations in several taxa. however, studies report inconsistencies in the direction of this association, with either positive, quadratic or no association being described. these discrepancies may arise because the fitness costs and benefits of mhc diversity differ among individuals depending on their exposure and immune responses to parasit ... | 2020 | 32654215 |
| contaminants, prolactin and parental care in an arctic seabird: contrasted associations of perfluoroalkyl substances and organochlorine compounds with egg-turning behavior. | incubating eggs represents a trade-off for parent birds between spending enough time fasting to take care of the clutch and to get enough nutrients for self-maintenance. it is believed that the pituitary hormone prolactin plays an important role in such allocation processes. incubation does not solely imply the active warming of the eggs but also the active egg-turning to facilitate absorption of albumen by the embryo, reduce malposition and prevent the embryo from adhering to the inner shell me ... | 2020 | 32032604 |
| evidence of avian influenza virus in seabirds breeding on a norwegian high-arctic archipelago. | wild aquatic birds serve as the natural reservoir for avian influenza virus (aiv), a disease with significant implications for avian and mammalian health. climate change is predicted to impact the dynamics of aiv, particularly in areas such as the arctic, but the baseline data needed to detect these shifts is often unavailable. in this study, plasma from two species of gulls breeding on the high-arctic svalbard archipelago were screened for antibodies to aiv. | 2020 | 32028933 |
| personality predicts foraging site fidelity and trip repeatability in a marine predator. | animal populations are often comprised of both foraging specialists and generalists. for instance, some individuals show higher foraging site fidelity (spatial specialization) than others. such individual differences in degree of specialization can persist over time-scales of months or even years in long-lived animals, but the mechanisms leading to these different individual strategies are not fully understood. there is accumulating evidence that individual variation in foraging behaviour is sha ... | 2020 | 31541578 |
| environmental heterogeneity decreases reproductive success via effects on foraging behaviour. | environmental heterogeneity shapes the uneven distribution of resources available to foragers, and is ubiquitous in nature. optimal foraging theory predicts that an animal's ability to exploit resource patches is key to foraging success. however, the potential fitness costs and benefits of foraging in a heterogeneous environment are difficult to measure empirically. heterogeneity may provide higher-quality foraging opportunities, or alternatively could increase the cost of resource acquisition b ... | 2019 | 31161906 |
| occurrence of substituted diphenylamine antioxidants and benzotriazole uv stabilizers in arctic seabirds and seals. | substituted diphenylamine antioxidants (sdpas) and benzotriazole uv stabilizers (bzt-uvs) are contaminants of emerging environmental concern. however, little is known about the occurrence of these contaminants in the arctic. in this study, we investigated the levels of 11 sdpas and 6 bzt-uvs in livers and eggs of two seabird species, the black-legged kittiwake (rissa tridactyla) and northern fulmar (fulmarus glacialis), as well as the liver of ringed seals (pusa hispida) from canadian high- and ... | 2019 | 30739863 |
| seabirds and marine plastic debris in the northeastern atlantic: a synthesis and recommendations for monitoring and research. | marine plastic pollution is an increasing, and global, environmental issue. numerous marine species are affected by plastic debris through entanglement, nest incorporation, and ingestion, which can lead to lethal and sub-lethal impacts. however, in the northeastern atlantic ocean, an area of international importance for seabirds, there has been little effort to date to assess information from studies of wildlife and plastic to better understand the spatiotemporal variation of how marine plastic ... | 2017 | 28917819 |
| proximate and ultimate roles of food amount in regulating egret sibling aggression. | in facultatively siblicidal bird species, the amount of food delivered by parent birds to their young ("food amount") has been assumed to be both an important proximate and ultimate cause of fatal aggression. the proximate "food amount hypothesis" (fah) contends that sibling aggression will vary inversely with the quantity of food delivered by the parents, presumably mediated by chick hunger. at the ultimate level, food shortages are expected to influence whether the combined effects of aggressi ... | 1987 | 29357167 |