Contaminants, prolactin and parental care in an Arctic seabird: Contrasted associations of perfluoroalkyl substances and organochlorine compounds with egg-turning behavior

• Published in: General and Comparative Endocrinology
• Main Authors: Blévin, Pierre, Shaffer, Scott A., Bustamante, Paco, Angelier, Frédéric, Picard, Baptiste, Herzke, Dorte, I, Moe, Borge, Gabrielsen, Geir Wing, Bustnes, Jan Ove, Chastel, Olivier
• Other Authors: Akvaplan niva AS (APN) Norway, Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), University of California (UC)-University of California (UC), LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut universitaire de France (IUF), Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche (M.E.N.E.S.R.), Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), Division of Arctic Ecology (NINA), Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Norvegian Polar Research Institute (NPRI), Norwegian Polar Institute, ANR-16-CE34-0005,ILETOP,Impact des polluants historiques et émergents sur les prédateurs supérieurs marins de l'Arctique(2016)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: Mercury; Organochlorine compounds; Perfluoroalkyl substances; Prolactin; Incubation behaviors; Black-legged kittiwake; Corticosterone; Egg-loggers; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Arctic; Black-legged Kittiwake; rissa tridactyla
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02475513; https://hal.science/hal-02475513/document; https://hal.science/hal-02475513/file/Bl%C3%A9vin%20et%20al%202020%20GCE.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygcen.2020.113420

International audience 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 membrane. However, how prolactin secretion is related to egg-turning behaviors is presently poorly addressed. In addition, several environmental contaminants can affect parental care behaviors through their endocrine disrupting properties but the effects of such contaminants on egg-turning behaviors remain so far unexplored. Using artificial eggs equipped with miniaturized data loggers, we investigated the relationships between egg-turning behaviors, prolactin secretion and contaminants burden in Arctic black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla). Specifically, we examined the relationships between blood concentrations of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), organochlorines (OCs), mercury (Hg), plasma prolactin levels and both egg-turning frequency and angular change. We also incorporated baseline corticosterone levels since this glucocorticoid is known to affect parental care. Plasma prolactin levels were positively related to angular change in female kittiwakes while corticosterone was not related to egg-turning behaviors in either sex. Hg was not related to egg-turning behaviors in either sex. We found contrasting associations between OCs and PFASs, since polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were negatively associated with angular change in females, contrary to linear perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOSlin) and perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) which were positively related to egg-turning frequency and angular change in both sexes. Additionally, PFASs concentrations were positively related to ...