DATA FOR: Body temperature rebounds on sea ice and is elevated by mercury contamination in a keystone predator

• Main Authors: Melissa Grunst, Andrea Grunst, David Grémillet, Akiko Kato, Sophie Gentès, Jérôme Fort
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Zenodo 2022
• Subjects: Body temperature; behavior; plasticity; environmental variation; climate change; ecotoxicology; mercury; biologging; Alle alle; Climate change; East Greenland; Greenland; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7220883

We used triaxial accelerometers(Axy 4, Technosmart, 3g)to collect detailed behavioral records from little auks ( Alle alle ) at Ukaleqarteq, East Greenland(70°44′N, 21°35′W), during the chick rearing period (July) of 2020. Simultaneously during this period, we assessed variation in the core (abdominal) body temperature (T b ) of 8 individuals,using T b loggers (BodyCap Anipill Core Body Temperature Ingestible Tablet; BMedical;±1°C), a telemetric system for gastrointestinal temperature recording. We also obtained small ~0.2-0.5 ml blood samples from the brachial veins of focal individualsto measure contamination from a potent chemical contaminant, mercury (Hg), and obtained detailed information regarding weather conditions (temperature, wind speed, relative humidity) from a station at the study site. We assessedhow T b varies with different behavioral states and environmental conditions, and additionally evaluated whether Hg concentrations independently affected T b , or altered state-dependent changes in T b .This dataset contains information regarding the body temperature (T b ), recorded at 1-min intervals.For each 1-min interval, associated information regarding behavior, from the accelerometer, and weather conditions, from the weather station is also given. In addition, for each individual, we provide Hg concentrations measured in erythrocytes and morphometric measurements. We acknowledge long-term support from the French Polar Institute (IPEV), through the ADACLIM program (388) administered by JF and DG. This work contributes to research projects ARCTIC-STRESSORS and ILETOP funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR‐20‐CE34‐0006, ANR‐16‐CE34‐0005), the international initiative ARCTOX (arctox.cnrs.fr) and the Excellence Chair ECOMM funded by the Region Nouvelle Aquitaine.