Reaching the end of the year, it is time to review the achievements made under the DETOXSEA project.
In April, we received the last results of trace elements from the DeToxSea project. That allowed Louis Troussé, MSc student in Environmental Sciences at la Rochelle Université, to evaluate how the concentrations of different trace elements vary with the environmental conditions. He found that the Atlantic Oscillation and the trophic ecology (through the study of stable isotopes of nitrogen and carbon) are affecting the concentrations of different trace elements, such as cadmium, iron, mercury, and zinc, in little auks (Alle alle). We hope to continue working on these results in the future.
Since then, we have also analyzed different concentrations of mercury and selenium in Brünnich’s guillemots (Uria lomvia) and black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), aollowing the objective of the DeToxSea project and thanks to collaborations with two other research projects at LIENSs (ARCTOX and ILETOP). The objective is to evaluate the interaction between both trace elements, their spatial dynamics, and how species are protected against mercury toxicity thanks to the selenium detoxification properties. The result of this study has already been presented at the CNFRAA (March 2022) and at the XXV Ornithological Conference of the Spanish Society of Ornithology (November 2022).
In addition, between mid-July and mid-August, we joined the ADACLIM program to sample little auks in Kap Hoegh as we did last year. The objectives of the fieldwork were similar to last year (see the entry about fieldwork in 2021 here), to which we added a new objective under the thesis of Julie Charrier (PhD student at LIENSs, see Julie’s personal profile here): the study of Highly Branched Isoprenoids, in order to evaluate to what extent little auks use sea ice as a source of food, and the study of mercury isotopes in little auks’ blood, in order to identify if there is a signature of mercury coming from Arctic sea-ice.
Furthermore, Marta Cruz Flores and Julie Cherrier took advantage of our stay in Kape Hoegh to record some images in order to create a short film for the “(Not Too) Scientific Film Festival” of the University of La Rochelle. Their film was awarded the Audience and Best Dissemination Film prizes (online version of the film coming very soon).
Finally, we have been analyzing how little auk survival can be affected by the environmental conditions, as well as by mercury and selenium concentrations, through their toxicity and protective effects, respectively. The first results will be out at the beginning of 2023!
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