Demographical effects of Toxic contamination on Arctic Seabirds
The Project
DeToxSea is a unique long-term study about the demographic effects of mercury-selenium toxic contamination on Arctic wildlife that, thanks to the experience of a multidisciplinary team, will shed light on different environmental challenges declared repeatedly as a priority by the European Union.
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BACKGROUND
Mercury concentrations in the oceans have tripled in the last centuries, even in remote areas such as the Arctic. Mercury is bioaccumulated in food webs and can produce toxic effects affecting breeding and survival probabilities in wildlife. In turn, selenium has been proven to have a protective effect against mercury toxicity, but no long-term studies have been carried out to evaluate reproductive output and population dynamics in relation to selenium or the interaction selenium-mercury.
AIMS
DeToxSea project aims at:
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Evaluate the temporal trends of selenium-mercury and on which environmental/individual factors they depend on;
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Investigate if selenium-mercury concentrations affect the reproductive output of little auks (Alle alle);
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Evaluate the effects of selenium-mercury at the population level in the context of climate change (i.e., considering environmental conditions). ​
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METHODOLOGY
We will use data of 15 years of monitoring on the most abundant breeding bird in the Arctic, the little auk, from Kape Høegh (East Greenland), collected since 2005 by the ADACLIM program (French Polar Institute). We will analyse pollutants on blood samples at LIENSs, and I will perform different statistical approaches to investigate our objectives.
Photo credit:
David Grémillet
In particular, we will look for functional relationships to evaluate pollutants temporal and environmental trends and their toxic effects on the reproductive output of little auks; and demographic models (multistate mark-recapture models and matrix population models) to evaluate the projected population growth rate and its sensitivity to selenium-mercury and environmental conditions.
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FUNDING
This project is funded by the European Commission from May 2021 to April 2023 (Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions awarded to Marta Cruz Flores).
