To breed or not to breed: endocrine response to mercury contamination by an Arctic seabird
International audience 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...
Published in: | Biology Letters |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2013
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00828084 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 |
id |
ftccsdartic:oai:HAL:hal-00828084v1 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftccsdartic:oai:HAL:hal-00828084v1 2023-05-15T14:58:31+02:00 To breed or not to breed: endocrine response to mercury contamination by an Arctic seabird Tartu, Sabrina Goutte, Aurélie Bustamante, Paco Angelier, Frédéric Moe, Borge Clément-Chastel, Céline Bech, Claus Gabrielsen, Geir Wing Bustnes, J. O. Chastel, Olivier Centre d'études biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés - UMRi 7266 (LIENSs) Université de La Rochelle (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Division of Arctic Ecology (NINA) Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) Department of Biology Trondheim (IBI NTNU) Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim (NTNU) Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)-Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Norvegian Polar Research Institute (NPRI) Norwegian Polar Institute 2013-05-08 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00828084 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 en eng HAL CCSD Royal Society, The info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 hal-00828084 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00828084 doi:10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 ISSN: 1744-9561 Biology Letters https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00828084 Biology Letters, Royal Society, The, 2013, 9 (4), pp.20130317. ⟨10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317⟩ intermittent breeding mercury GnRH challenge luteinizing hormone black-legged kittiwake [SDE]Environmental Sciences info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2013 ftccsdartic https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 2021-10-24T15:01:01Z International audience 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 decreasedwith increasingmercury concentration inmales,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 Black-legged Kittiwake rissa tridactyla Svalbard Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) Arctic Svalbard Biology Letters 9 4 20130317 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) |
op_collection_id |
ftccsdartic |
language |
English |
topic |
intermittent breeding mercury GnRH challenge luteinizing hormone black-legged kittiwake [SDE]Environmental Sciences |
spellingShingle |
intermittent breeding mercury GnRH challenge luteinizing hormone black-legged kittiwake [SDE]Environmental Sciences Tartu, Sabrina Goutte, Aurélie Bustamante, Paco Angelier, Frédéric Moe, Borge Clément-Chastel, Céline Bech, Claus Gabrielsen, Geir Wing Bustnes, J. O. Chastel, Olivier To breed or not to breed: endocrine response to mercury contamination by an Arctic seabird |
topic_facet |
intermittent breeding mercury GnRH challenge luteinizing hormone black-legged kittiwake [SDE]Environmental Sciences |
description |
International audience 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 decreasedwith increasingmercury concentration inmales,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. |
author2 |
Centre d'études biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés - UMRi 7266 (LIENSs) Université de La Rochelle (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Division of Arctic Ecology (NINA) Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) Department of Biology Trondheim (IBI NTNU) Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim (NTNU) Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)-Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Norvegian Polar Research Institute (NPRI) Norwegian Polar Institute |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tartu, Sabrina Goutte, Aurélie Bustamante, Paco Angelier, Frédéric Moe, Borge Clément-Chastel, Céline Bech, Claus Gabrielsen, Geir Wing Bustnes, J. O. Chastel, Olivier |
author_facet |
Tartu, Sabrina Goutte, Aurélie Bustamante, Paco Angelier, Frédéric Moe, Borge Clément-Chastel, Céline Bech, Claus Gabrielsen, Geir Wing Bustnes, J. O. 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 |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00828084 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Black-legged Kittiwake rissa tridactyla Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Black-legged Kittiwake rissa tridactyla Svalbard |
op_source |
ISSN: 1744-9561 Biology Letters https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00828084 Biology Letters, Royal Society, The, 2013, 9 (4), pp.20130317. ⟨10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 hal-00828084 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00828084 doi:10.1098/rsbl.2013.0317 |
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_ |
1766330657660731392 |