High feather mercury concentrations in the wandering albatross are related to sex, breeding status and trophic ecology with no demographic consequences

• Published in: Environmental Research
• Main Authors: Bustamante, Paco, Carravieri, Alice, Goutte, Aurélie, Barbraud, Christophe, Delord, Karine, Chastel, Olivier, Weimerskirch, Henri, Cherel, Yves
• Other Authors: LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés - UMR 7266 (LIENSs), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Milieux Environnementaux, Transferts et Interactions dans les hydrosystèmes et les Sols (METIS), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), ANR-10-CESA-0016,POLARTOP,Contaminants chez les prédateurs supérieurs polaires: niveaux et effets des polluants organiques et métaux lourds sur la physiologie du stress et le devenir des oiseaux marins des Terres Australes Françaises (TAAF)(2010)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: Bioaccumulation; Metal; Sex; Age; Immature; Stable isotopes; Southern Ocean; [SDV.TOX.ECO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Toxicology/Ecotoxicology; Possession Island; Wandering Albatross
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01223563; https://hal.science/hal-01223563/document; https://hal.science/hal-01223563/file/Bustamante%20et%20al%202015%20ENV%20RES.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2015.10.024

International audience Hg can affect physiology of seabirds and ultimately their demography, particularly if they are top consumers. In the present study, body feathers of > 200 wandering albatrosses from Possession Island in the Crozet archipelago were used to explore the potential demographic effects of the long-term exposure to Hg on an apex predator. Variations of Hg with sex, age class, foraging habitat (inferred from δ13C values), and feeding habits (inferred from δ15N values) were examined as well as the influence of Hg on current breeding output, long-term fecundity and survival. Wandering albatrosses displayed among the highest Hg feather concentrations reported for seabirds, ranging from 5.9 to 95 µg g-1, as a consequence of their high trophic position (δ15N values). These concentrations fall within the same range of those of other wandering albatross populations from subantarctic sites, suggesting that this species has similar exposure to Hg all around the Southern Ocean. In both immature and adult albatrosses, females had higher Hg concentrations than males (28 vs 20 µg g-1 dw on average, respectively), probably as a consequence of females foraging at lower latitudes than males (δ13C values). Hg concentrations were higher in immature than in adult birds, and they remained fairly constant across a wide range of ages in adults. Such high levels in immature individuals question (i) the frequency of moult in young birds, (ii) the efficiency of Hg detoxification processes in immatures compared to adults, and (iii) importantly the potential detrimental effects of Hg in early life. Despite very high Hg concentrations in their feathers, neither effects on adults’ breeding probability, hatching failure and fledgling failure, nor on adults’ survival rate were detected, suggesting that long-term bioaccumulated Hg was not under a chemical form leading to deleterious effects on reproductive parameters in adult individuals.