Survival rate and breeding outputs in a high Arctic seabird exposed to legacy persistent organic pollutants and mercury

• Published in: Environmental Pollution
• Main Authors: Goutte, Aurélie, Barbraud, Christophe, Herzke, Dorte, Bustamante, Paco, Angelier, Frédéric, Tartu, Sabrina, Clément-Chastel, Céline, Moe, Børge, Bech, Claus, Gabrielsen, Geir W, Ove Bustnes, Jan, Chastel, Olivier
• Other Authors: 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), 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), Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Norwegian Polar Institute
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: PCBs; Population; Kittiwake; Heavy metals; Pesticides; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; [SDV.EE]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology; environment; Arctic; Black-legged Kittiwake; rissa tridactyla; Svalbard
• Online Access: https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01118127; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01118127/document; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01118127/file/Goutte_2015_Survival_rate_and.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.01.033

International audience Chronic exposure to pollutants may represent a threat for wildlife. We tested whether adult survival rate, breeding probability and breeding success the year of sampling and the following year were affected by blood levels of mercury or persistent organic pollutants in Svalbard black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla, by using capture–mark–recapture models over a five-year period. Survival rate was negatively linked to HCB levels in females, to chlordane mixture and oxychlordane, tended to decrease with increasing PCBs or DDE levels, but was unrelated to mercury. Breeding probability decreased with increasing mercury levels during the sampling year and with increasing CHL or HCB levels during the following year, especially in males observed as breeders. Surprisingly, the probability of raising two chicks increased with increasing HCB levels. Although levels of these legacy pollutants are expected to decline, they represent a potential threat for adult survival rate and breeding probability, possibly affecting kittiwake population dynamics.