To breed or not to breed: endocrine response to mercury contamination by an Arctic seabird
Mercury, a ubiquitous toxic element, is known to alter expression of sex steroids and to impair reproduction across vertebrates but the mechanisms underlying these effects are not clearly identified. We examined whether contamination by mercury predicts the probability to skip reproduction in black-...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 2024-09-09T19:23:20+00:00 To breed or not to breed: endocrine response to mercury contamination by an Arctic seabird Tartu, Sabrina Goutte, Aurélie Bustamante, Paco Angelier, Frédéric Moe, Børge Clément-Chastel, Céline Bech, Claus Gabrielsen, Geir Wing Bustnes, Jan Ove Chastel, Olivier 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Biology Letters volume 9, issue 4, page 20130317 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X journal-article 2013 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 2024-08-26T04:21:03Z Mercury, a ubiquitous toxic element, is known to alter expression of sex steroids and to impair reproduction across vertebrates but the mechanisms underlying these effects are not clearly identified. We examined whether contamination by mercury predicts the probability to skip reproduction in black-legged kittiwakes ( Rissa tridactyla ) from Svalbard. We also manipulated the endocrine system to investigate the mechanism underlying this relationship. During the pre-laying period, we injected exogenous GnRH (gonadotropin-releasing hormone) to test the ability of the pituitary to release luteinizing hormone (LH, a key hormone for the release of sex steroids and hence breeding) in relation to mercury burden. Birds that skipped reproduction had significantly higher mercury concentration in blood than breeders. Endocrine profiles of these birds also varied based on breeding status (breeders versus non-breeders), mercury contamination and sex. Specifically, in skippers (birds that did not breed), baseline LH decreased with increasing mercury concentration in males, whereas it increased in females. GnRH-induced LH levels increased with increasing mercury concentration in both sexes. These results suggest that mercury contamination may disrupt GnRH input to the pituitary. Thus, high mercury concentration could affect the ability of long-lived birds to modulate their reproductive effort (skipping or breeding) according to ongoing environmental changes in the Arctic, thereby impacting population dynamics. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic rissa tridactyla Svalbard The Royal Society Arctic Svalbard Biology Letters 9 4 20130317 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Mercury, a ubiquitous toxic element, is known to alter expression of sex steroids and to impair reproduction across vertebrates but the mechanisms underlying these effects are not clearly identified. We examined whether contamination by mercury predicts the probability to skip reproduction in black-legged kittiwakes ( Rissa tridactyla ) from Svalbard. We also manipulated the endocrine system to investigate the mechanism underlying this relationship. During the pre-laying period, we injected exogenous GnRH (gonadotropin-releasing hormone) to test the ability of the pituitary to release luteinizing hormone (LH, a key hormone for the release of sex steroids and hence breeding) in relation to mercury burden. Birds that skipped reproduction had significantly higher mercury concentration in blood than breeders. Endocrine profiles of these birds also varied based on breeding status (breeders versus non-breeders), mercury contamination and sex. Specifically, in skippers (birds that did not breed), baseline LH decreased with increasing mercury concentration in males, whereas it increased in females. GnRH-induced LH levels increased with increasing mercury concentration in both sexes. These results suggest that mercury contamination may disrupt GnRH input to the pituitary. Thus, high mercury concentration could affect the ability of long-lived birds to modulate their reproductive effort (skipping or breeding) according to ongoing environmental changes in the Arctic, thereby impacting population dynamics. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tartu, Sabrina Goutte, Aurélie Bustamante, Paco Angelier, Frédéric Moe, Børge Clément-Chastel, Céline Bech, Claus Gabrielsen, Geir Wing Bustnes, Jan Ove Chastel, Olivier |
spellingShingle |
Tartu, Sabrina Goutte, Aurélie Bustamante, Paco Angelier, Frédéric Moe, Børge Clément-Chastel, Céline Bech, Claus Gabrielsen, Geir Wing Bustnes, Jan Ove Chastel, Olivier To breed or not to breed: endocrine response to mercury contamination by an Arctic seabird |
author_facet |
Tartu, Sabrina Goutte, Aurélie Bustamante, Paco Angelier, Frédéric Moe, Børge Clément-Chastel, Céline Bech, Claus Gabrielsen, Geir Wing Bustnes, Jan Ove Chastel, Olivier |
author_sort |
Tartu, Sabrina |
title |
To breed or not to breed: endocrine response to mercury contamination by an Arctic seabird |
title_short |
To breed or not to breed: endocrine response to mercury contamination by an Arctic seabird |
title_full |
To breed or not to breed: endocrine response to mercury contamination by an Arctic seabird |
title_fullStr |
To breed or not to breed: endocrine response to mercury contamination by an Arctic seabird |
title_full_unstemmed |
To breed or not to breed: endocrine response to mercury contamination by an Arctic seabird |
title_sort |
to breed or not to breed: endocrine response to mercury contamination by an arctic seabird |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic rissa tridactyla Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic rissa tridactyla Svalbard |
op_source |
Biology Letters volume 9, issue 4, page 20130317 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
20130317 |
_version_ |
1809763733166096384 |