Exposure of Arctic seabirds to pollutants and the role played by individual migratory movements and non-breeding distribution

The Arctic, even far from intensive human activities, is contaminated by pollutants emitted at Northern mid-latitudes. Because of their physico-chemical characteristics, pollutants are transported over large distances through atmospheric or oceanic currents. Among them is mercury (Hg), a naturally occurring and non-essential trace element whose emissions increased since the 19th century because of human activities. This neurotoxic negatively impacts animals’ health and induces behavioral changes, reproduction issues and in the most extreme case, death. The marine environment is particularly sensitive to Hg, which incorporates the food chain (under is toxic and methylated form – MeHg) in which its concentration increases from one trophic level to the other (e.g. biomagnification process) and accumulates within organisms (e.g. bioaccumulation process). Hence, long-lived top predators like seabirds, found at the end of the food chain usually show some of the highest contamination to Hg. They are commonly and efficiently used as bio-indicators of the health of their environment. Most of the current knowledge about Hg contamination in Arctic seabirds focused on the breeding period during which Hg was found to spatially vary, with usually higher Hg concentrations in the Canadian Arctic. During this period, which represents a part of the year only, seabirds aggregate in colonies for reproduction where they are more easily accessible. However, at the end of this period, seabirds migrate to overwinter mostly in open seas, outside of the Arctic. A previous study on a little auk (Alle alle) population breeding in East Greenland found that Hg concentrations were higher during the non-breeding period than during the breeding period, with carryover effects on the following reproduction. In the present doctoral work, based on a multi-species and multi-colony approach, we studied winter Hg exposure and the role of seabird migration in their contamination to Hg at large spatial scale. We found a seasonality in Hg concentrations allowing us to extend the results found in little auks to several species and at a larger spatial scale. We also found that this seasonality was spatially different with some of the highest variations for seabirds breeding in the West Atlantic (West Greenland and Canadian Arctic). We therefore proposed that such variations were due to seabird’s migration and the areas they overwintered at. To test such hypotheses, we used seabirds as bio-indicators of winter Hg contamination through the North-Atlantic Arctic. More specifically, we combined Hg measurements with geolocators devices to track the spatial origin of winter Hg contamination. We found an east-west increase in Hg concentrations allowing us to extend the results found during the breeding period to the winter period, through the entire North-Atlantic Arctic marine region. Results of the present doctoral work allow us to conclude that beyond migration, seabird distribution during the breeding and non-breeding periods drive their contamination to Hg.

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.