Abstract: Sex allocation theory predicts that parents should bias offspring sex according to the costs and benefits associated with producing either sex in a given context. Accurately interpreting sex-ratio biases, therefore, requires a precise identification of these selective pressures. However, such information is generally lacking. This may partly explain the inconsistency in reported sex allocation patterns, especially in vertebrates. We present data from a long-term feeding experiment in black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) that allowed us to increase investment capacity for some breeding pairs. Previous findings showed that these pairs then overproduced sons compared with control parents. Here, our aim was to test the underlying assumptions of the 2 appropriate sex allocation models for our context: the “cost of reproduction hypothesis” and the “Trivers-Willard hypothesis.” The former assumes a sex difference in rearing costs, whereas the latter assumes a difference in fitness returns. 1) Independent of feeding treatment, rearing sons was energetically more demanding for parents (as revealed by higher energy expenditure and higher baseline corticosterone levels) than rearing daughters, thereby corroborating the underlying assumption of the “cost of reproduction hypothesis.” 2) Evidence supporting the assumptions of the “Trivers-Willard hypothesis” was less convincing. Overall, our results suggest that drivers of parental sex allocation decisions are probably more related to offspring sex-specific energetic costs than to their future reproductive success in our study species. Assessing the adaptive value of sex-ratio biases requires precise investigation of the assumptions underlying theoretical models, particularly as long as the mechanisms involved in sex-ratio manipulation remain largely unknown.

Abstract: In this work, we model the polarisation of the auroral red line using the electron impact theory developed by Bommier et al (2011). This theory enables the computation of the distribution of the Degree of Linear Polarisation (DoLP) as function of height if the flux of precipitated electrons is provided as input.\\
An electron transport code is used to infer the stationary electron flux at each altitude in the ionosphere as a function of energy and pitch angle. Using adequate cross sections, the integral of this electron flux over energy and pitch angle provides an anisotropy parameter from which the theoretical local DoLP can be computed at each altitude. The modelled DoLP is then derived by integrating along the line-of-sight.\\
Depending on the integration length, the modelled DoLP ranges between 0.6\% for a very long integration length, and 1.8\% for a very short integration length localized around an altitude of 210 km. A parametric study is performed to check how the characteristics of the local DoLP (maximum value, altitude of the maximum, integrated height profile) vary. It is found that the polarisation is highly sensitive to the scattering function of the electrons, to the electron precipitation and the geomagnetic activity.\\
We compare these values to measured ones obtained during an observational campaign performed in February 2012 from Svalbard. The measured DoLP during the campaign was 1.9\% $\pm$ 0.1\%. The comparison between this value and the theoretical one is discussed . Discrepancies may be due to the poor constraint of the input parameters (thermosphere and ionosphere), to the fact that only electron precipitation is considered in this approach (and not proton precipitation for instance), and to the difficulty in constraining the exact width of the emission layer in the thermosphere.