Last summer, from July 12 to August 8 2021, a group of 5 researchers and I shared a colony with thousands of little auks (Alle alle) from Ukaleqarteq (Kap Höegh), in the East of Greenland.
Jérôme Fort and David Grémillet, collaborators of the DeToxSea project, have been working in this colony for almost 20 years, collecting data from a wide range of projects. In 2021, several types of data were collected from little auks, but not all of them were related to the DeToxSea project. However, the DeToxSea project was able to take advantage of 17 years of data previously collected in this colony.
The work that Jerome and David have been doing at this colony for the last two decades has given them the opportunity to put together an elaborate framework strategy. As such, the colony of little auks has been divided into different according to specific research objectives: the colony of little auks has been divided into different plots according to specific research objectives:
A couple of plots are being used to track little auks with light level geolocators and accelerometers to study their wintering areas and their movements. This data have mainly been used for other parallel projects. However, blood samples of tracked animals will also be used in the DeToxSea project.
During the first few days of our fieldwork, we searched for around 30 nests with eggs or chicks in area that we called the “chick plot”. Each chick was measured every two days in order to study their growth rate. At the end of the season, we also sampled feathers and blood, as they were big enough for this sampling.
Finally, the capture-mark-recapture plot, was the area in which we resighted animals that had been marked previously (since 2005) with a unique code composed of 3 colour rings and one metal ring (n = 383). We specifically performed two resight sessions over a period of three days which included seven hours of continuous observation each day with binoculars. This data, along with the previous 19 years of capture-mark-recapture data, will be used for the DeToxSea project to analyze the survival of little auks and how mercury and selenium concentrations can affect their survival rate.
During this incredible experience, we had the opportunity to share habitat with other wildlife such as belugas, arctic foxes, gyrfalcons, Arctic skuas, seals and polar bears. In fact, one of the highlights of our experience was when we spotted a polar bear swimming in the sea.
