Maëlle Connan, Vonica Perold, Ben J. Dilley, Christophe Barbraud, Yves Cherel, Peter G. Ryan. (2021). The Indian Ocean ‘garbage patch’: Empirical evidence from floating macro-litter (Vol. 169). Bachelor's thesis, , .
Abstract: Marine litter has become a global issue with ‘garbage patches’ documented in all ocean gyres. The Pacific and Atlantic garbage patches have been well described, but there are few empirical data for the Indian Ocean. In the austral summer 2019–2020, we conducted an at-sea survey of macro-litter in the rarely investigated south-west Indian Ocean. Over 24 days, 1623 man-made items were observed including plastic fragments, packaging and fishing-related items during 216 h of observations covering 5464 km. More than 99% of the litter items were plastics of which almost 60% were white. Floating litter was patchily distributed with only five items (0.2%) recorded south of 40°S (0.1 items·km‐2). Half of the items were encountered over a two-day period south-east of Madagascar (30°S; 59–67°E; 75.2 items·km‐2). Our survey detected an accumulation of litter in the southern Indian Ocean and demonstrated that this area warrants more research.
Keywords: At-sea survey Frontal system Garbage patch Plastic litter Southern Indian Ocean
Programme: 109
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Céline Albert, Hálfdán Helgi Helgason, Maud Brault-Favrou, Gregory J. Robertson, Sébastien Descamps, Françoise Amélineau, Jóhannis Danielsen, Rune Dietz, Kyle Elliott, Kjell Einar Erikstad, Igor Eulaers, Alexey Ezhov, Michelle G. Fitzsimmons, Maria Gavrilo, Elena Golubova, David Grémillet, Scott Hatch, Nicholas P. Huffeldt, Dariusz Jakubas, Alexander Kitaysky, Yann Kolbeinsson, Yuri Krasnov, Svein-Håkon Lorentsen, Erlend Lorentzen, Mark L. Mallory, Benjamin Merkel, Flemming Ravn Merkel, William Montevecchi, Anders Mosbech, Bergur Olsen, Rachael A. Orben, Allison Patterson, Jennifer Provencher, Christine Plumejeaud, Isabeau Pratte, Tone Kristin Reiertsen, Heather Renner, Nora Rojek, Marc Romano, Hallvard Strøm, Geir Helge Systad, Akinori Takahashi, Jean-Baptiste Thiebot, Thorkell Lindberg Thórarinsson, Alexis P. Will, Katarzyna Wojczulanis-Jakubas, Paco Bustamante, Jérôme Fort. (2021). Seasonal variation of mercury contamination in Arctic seabirds: A pan-Arctic assessment (Vol. 750).
Abstract: Mercury (Hg) is a natural trace element found in high concentrations in top predators, including Arctic seabirds. Most current knowledge about Hg concentrations in Arctic seabirds relates to exposure during the summer breeding period when researchers can easily access seabirds at colonies. However, the few studies focused on winter have shown higher Hg concentrations during the non-breeding period than breeding period in several tissues. Hence, improving knowledge about Hg exposure during the non-breeding period is crucial to understanding the threats and risks encountered by these species year-round. We used feathers of nine migratory alcid species occurring at high latitudes to study bird Hg exposure during both the breeding and non-breeding periods. Overall, Hg concentrations during the non-breeding period were ~3 times higher than during the breeding period. In addition, spatial differences were apparent within and between the Atlantic and Pacific regions. While Hg concentrations during the non-breeding period were ~9 times and ~3 times higher than during the breeding period for the West and East Atlantic respectively, Hg concentrations in the Pacific during the non-breeding period were only ~1.7 times higher than during the breeding period. In addition, individual Hg concentrations during the non-breeding period for most of the seabird colonies were above 5 μg g−1 dry weight (dw), which is considered to be the threshold at which deleterious effects are observed, suggesting that some breeding populations might be vulnerable to non-breeding Hg exposure. Since wintering area locations, and migration routes may influence seasonal Hg concentrations, it is crucial to improve our knowledge about spatial ecotoxicology to fully understand the risks associated with Hg contamination in Arctic seabirds.
Keywords: Feathers Metal Polar Seasonal variation Top predators
Programme: 388
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Stefan Osterwalder, Sarrah M. Dunham-Cheatham, Beatriz Ferreira Araujo, Olivier Magand, Jennie L. Thomas, Foteini Baladima, Katrine Aspmo Pfaffhuber, Torunn Berg, Lei Zhang, Jiaoyan Huang, Aurélien Dommergue, Jeroen E. Sonke, Mae Sexauer Gustin. (2021). Fate of Springtime Atmospheric Reactive Mercury: Concentrations and Deposition at Zeppelin, Svalbard (Vol. 5).
Abstract: Mid-latitude atmospheric elemental mercury (Hg) emissions undergo extensive oxidation to reactive Hg (RM) compounds during Arctic polar sunrise, resulting in enhanced atmospheric deposition that impacts Arctic marine wildlife and humans. It has been difficult to estimate RM dry deposition, because RM concentrations, compounds, and their deposition velocities are ill-defined. Here, we investigate RM concentrations sampled with membrane-based methods and find these to exceed denuder-based RM detection by 5 times at the Zeppelin Observatory on Svalbard (March 26–July 24, 2019). Measured dry deposition of gaseous oxidized Hg was about half of the modeled RM deposition, demonstrating that particulate-bound Hg was an important component of dry deposition. Using thermal membrane desorption, RM chemistry was found to be dominated by Hg–Cl/Br (51%) and Hg–N (45%) compounds. Back-trajectory analysis indicated that Hg–Br/Cl compounds were predominantly advected from within the marine boundary layer (sea ice exposure), while Hg–N originated from the free troposphere. Weekly average RM compound-specific dry deposition velocities ranged from 0.12 to 0.49 cm s–1, with a net RM dry deposition of 1.9 μg m–2 (1.5–2.5 μg m–2; 95% confidence interval) that exceeds the mean annual Hg wet deposition flux in Svalbard. Overall, we find that springtime atmospheric RM deposition has been underestimated in the Arctic marine environment.
Programme: 1028
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Martin Beal, Maria P. Dias, Richard A. Phillips, Steffen Oppel, Carolina Hazin, Elizabeth J. Pearmain, Josh Adams, David J. Anderson, Michelle Antolos, Javier A. Arata, José Manuel Arcos, John P. Y. Arnould, Jill Awkerman, Elizabeth Bell, Mike Bell, Mark Carey, Ryan Carle, Thomas A. Clay, Jaimie Cleeland, Valentina Colodro, Melinda Conners, Marta Cruz-Flores, Richard Cuthbert, Karine Delord, Lorna Deppe, Ben J. Dilley, Herculano Dinis, Graeme Elliott, Fernanda De Felipe, Jonathan Felis, Manuela G. Forero, Amanda Freeman, Akira Fukuda, Jacob González-Solís, José Pedro Granadeiro, April Hedd, Peter Hodum, José Manuel Igual, Audrey Jaeger, Todd J. Landers, Matthieu Le Corre, Azwianewi Makhado, Benjamin Metzger, Teresa Militão, William A. Montevecchi, Virginia Morera-Pujol, Leia Navarro-Herrero, Deon Nel, David Nicholls, Daniel Oro, Ridha Ouni, Kiyoaki Ozaki, Flavio Quintana, Raül Ramos, Tim Reid, José Manuel Reyes-González, Christopher Robertson, Graham Robertson, Mohamed Salah Romdhane, Peter G. Ryan, Paul Sagar, Fumio Sato, Stefan Schoombie, R. Paul Scofield, Scott A. Shaffer, Nirmal Jivan Shah, Kim L. Stevens, Christopher Surman, Robert M. Suryan, Akinori Takahashi, Vikash Tatayah, Graeme Taylor, David R. Thompson, Leigh Torres, Kath Walker, Ross Wanless, Susan M. Waugh, Henri Weimerskirch, Takashi Yamamoto, Zuzana Zajkova, Laura Zango, Paulo Catry. (2021). Global political responsibility for the conservation of albatrosses and large petrels (Vol. 7).
Abstract: Migratory marine species cross political borders and enter the high seas, where the lack of an effective global management framework for biodiversity leaves them vulnerable to threats. Here, we combine 10,108 tracks from 5775 individual birds at 87 sites with data on breeding population sizes to estimate the relative year-round importance of national jurisdictions and high seas areas for 39 species of albatrosses and large petrels. Populations from every country made extensive use of the high seas, indicating the stake each country has in the management of biodiversity in international waters. We quantified the links among national populations of these threatened seabirds and the regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) which regulate fishing in the high seas. This work makes explicit the relative responsibilities that each country and RFMO has for the management of shared biodiversity, providing invaluable information for the conservation and management of migratory species in the marine realm.
Programme: 109
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C. Albert, V. S. Bråthen, S. Descamps, T. Anker-Nilssen, A. Cherenkov, S. Christensen-Dalsgaard, J. Danielsen, K. E. Erikstad, M. Gavrilo, S. A. Hanssen, H. H. Helgason, J. E. Jónsson, Y. Kolbeinsson, Y. Krasnov, M. Langset, E. Lorentzen, B. Olsen, T. K. Reiertsen, H. Strøm, G. H. Systad, G. Tertitski, P. M. Thompson, T. L. Thórarinsson, P. Bustamante, B. Moe, J. Fort. (2021). Inter-annual variation in winter distribution affects individual seabird contamination with mercury (Vol. 676).
Abstract: Migratory seabirds are exposed to various pollutants throughout their annual cycle. Among them, mercury (Hg) is of particular concern given its large impact on animal health. Recent studies suggest that winter is a critical period for seabirds when contamination by Hg can be higher than at other times of year. However, individuals within and between species can have different migration strategies and winter distributions that could affect their exposure. Here, we combined multi-year individual tracking data and Hg measurements from 6 Arctic seabird species. We investigated whether inter-annual variations in individual winter contamination with Hg was related to seabird fidelity to a wintering site over years. First, our results show that Hg concentrations above the toxicity threshold (i.e. 5 µg g-1 dry weight in feathers) were observed in variable proportions according to species (from 2% of northern fulmars to 37% of Brünnich’s guillemots). Second, individuals with high fidelity to a wintering ground had more similar Hg concentrations among years compared to individuals with low fidelity, suggesting an effect of their migratory strategy on Hg contamination. Further, we found that the directional change in wintering areas among years influenced seabird Hg contamination, highlighting an additional effect of seabirds’ winter distribution. More specifically, individuals migrating to the northwest direction of a previous wintering ground tended to be more contaminated compared to those moving to eastern directions. These results confirm spatial differences in Hg concentration throughout the North Atlantic-Arctic and an east-west gradient increase in Hg concentrations. Verifying this trend will require more large-scale ecotoxicological studies at smaller spatial resolution.
Keywords: Biologging Feathers Migration North Atlantic-Arctic Pollutant
Programme: 388
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Nicolas Meyer, Loïc Bollache, Matthias Galipaud, Jérôme Moreau, François-Xavier Dechaume-Moncharmont, Eve Afonso, Anders Angerbjörn, Joël Bêty, Glen Brown, Dorothée Ehrich, Vladimir Gilg, Marie-Andrée Giroux, Jannik Hansen, Richard Lanctot, Johannes Lang, Christopher Latty, Nicolas Lecomte, Laura McKinnon, Lisa Kennedy, Jeroen Reneerkens, Sarah Saalfeld, Brigitte Sabard, Niels M. Schmidt, Benoît Sittler, Paul Smith, Aleksander Sokolov, Vasiliy Sokolov, Natalia Sokolova, Rob van Bemmelen, Øystein Varpe, Olivier Gilg. (2021). Behavioural responses of breeding arctic sandpipers to ground-surface temperature and primary productivity (Vol. 755).
Abstract: Most birds incubate their eggs, which requires time and energy at the expense of other activities. Birds generally have two incubation strategies: biparental where both mates cooperate in incubating eggs, and uniparental where a single parent incubates. In harsh and unpredictable environments, incubation is challenging due to high energetic demands and variable resource availability. We studied the relationships between the incubation behaviour of sandpipers (genus Calidris) and two environmental variables: temperature and a proxy of primary productivity (i.e. NDVI). We investigated how these relationships vary between incubation strategies and across species among strategies. We also studied how the relationship between current temperature and incubation behaviour varies with previous day's temperature. We monitored the incubation behaviour of nine sandpiper species using thermologgers at 15 arctic sites between 2016 and 2019. We also used thermologgers to record the ground surface temperature at conspecific nest sites and extracted NDVI values from a remote sensing product. We found no relationship between either environmental variables and biparental incubation behaviour. Conversely, as ground-surface temperature increased, uniparental species decreased total duration of recesses (TDR) and mean duration of recesses (MDR), but increased number of recesses (NR). Moreover, small species showed stronger relationships with ground-surface temperature than large species. When all uniparental species were combined, an increase in NDVI was correlated with higher mean duration, total duration and number of recesses, but relationships varied widely across species. Finally, some uniparental species showed a lag effect with a higher nest attentiveness after a warm day while more recesses occurred after a cold day than was predicted based on current temperatures. We demonstrate the complex interplay between shorebird incubation strategies, incubation behaviour, and environmental conditions. Understanding how species respond to changes in their environment during incubation helps predict their future reproductive success.
Keywords: Environmental conditions Incubation behaviour Incubation recesses Incubation strategy Lag effects NDVI Shorebird
Programme: 1036
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Carlo Cauzzi, Susana Custódio, Christos P. Evangelidis, Giovanni Lanzano, Lucia Luzi, Lars Ottemöller, Helle Pedersen, Reinoud Sleeman. (2021). Preface to the Focus Section on European Seismic Networks and Associated Services and Products (Vol. 92).
Abstract: Most of the articles of this focus section serve as good examples in the open science domain, in which data are expected to be “findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable” (Wilkinson et al., 2016). In many contributions, emphasis is placed on quality: as automated access to seismological archives via standardized web services emerges as the preferred user strategy, ensuring the high quality of data and metadata becomes more and more important (e.g., Büyükakpınar et al., 2021; Cambaz et al., 2021; Carrilho et al., 2021; Evangelidis et al., 2021; Mader and Ritter, 2021; Ottemöller et al., 2021; Péquegnat et al., 2021; Stammler et al., 2021; Strollo et al., 2021). Quality is especially important at a time when very large datasets are increasingly being processed routinely and “blindly” in machine‐learning approaches. The vast majority of seismological data centers already manage multisensor archives (seismometers, accelerometers, infrasound, amphibian seismological instruments, high‐rate global navigation satellite systems, etc.), and the inclusion of new types of data (e.g., rotational sensors, low‐cost instrumentation, and synthetic waveforms) in seismological archives poses new challenges and prompts for new technical solutions and standards for data archiving, metadata preparation, quality checks, data dissemination, and processing. A particular challenge over the next few years (Quinteros, Carter, et al., 2021) is the upcoming massive growth of data volume, due in particular to new instruments (large‐N experiments and distributed acoustic sensing systems) but also to increased volumes of traditional seismic data. It is expected that multisensor experiments will progressively dominate the technical and scientific discussion in geosciences in the coming decade, spurred by the societal need to develop multidisciplinary, multihazard science and research products. Joining forces and competences is therefore key to addressing future challenges: the EarthScope Consortium was recently established in the United States, and the European Plate Observing System (EPOS) was created as the framework to integrate all geoscience services in the greater European region. ORFEUS and its seismic network community strongly support the development and consolidation of EPOS by participating in the activities of its thematic core service for seismology.
Programme: 133
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Guillaume Schwob, Nicolás I. Segovia, Claudio González-Wevar, Léa Cabrol, Julieta Orlando, Elie Poulin. (2021). Exploring the Microdiversity Within Marine Bacterial Taxa: Toward an Integrated Biogeography in the Southern Ocean (Vol. 12).
Abstract: Most of the microbial biogeographic patterns in the oceans have been depicted at the whole community level, leaving out finer taxonomic resolution (i.e., microdiversity) that is crucial to conduct intra-population phylogeographic study, as commonly done for macroorganisms. Here, we present a new approach to unravel the bacterial phylogeographic patterns combining community-wide survey by 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding and intra-species resolution through the oligotyping method, allowing robust estimations of genetic and phylogeographic indices, and migration parameters. As a proof-of-concept, we focused on the bacterial genus Spirochaeta across three distant biogeographic provinces of the Southern Ocean; maritime Antarctica, sub-Antarctic Islands, and Patagonia. Each targeted Spirochaeta operational taxonomic units were characterized by a substantial intrapopulation microdiversity, and significant genetic differentiation and phylogeographic structure among the three provinces. Gene flow estimations among Spirochaeta populations support the role of the Antarctic Polar Front as a biogeographic barrier to bacterial dispersal between Antarctic and sub-Antarctic provinces. Conversely, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current appears as the main driver of gene flow, connecting sub-Antarctic Islands with Patagonia and maritime Antarctica. Additionally, historical processes (drift and dispersal limitation) govern up to 86% of the spatial turnover among Spirochaeta populations. Overall, our approach bridges the gap between microbial and macrobial ecology by revealing strong congruency with macroorganisms distribution patterns at the populational level, shaped by the same oceanographic structures and ecological processes.
Programme: 1044
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Ross N. Cuthbert, Zarah Pattison, Nigel G. Taylor, Laura Verbrugge, Christophe Diagne, Danish A. Ahmed, Boris Leroy, Elena Angulo, Elizabeta Briski, César Capinha, Jane A. Catford, Tatenda Dalu, Franz Essl, Rodolphe E. Gozlan, Phillip J. Haubrock, Melina Kourantidou, Andrew M. Kramer, David Renault, Ryan J. Wasserman, Franck Courchamp. (2021). Global economic costs of aquatic invasive alien species (Vol. 775).
Abstract: Much research effort has been invested in understanding ecological impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) across ecosystems and taxonomic groups, but empirical studies about economic effects lack synthesis. Using a comprehensive global database, we determine patterns and trends in economic costs of aquatic IAS by examining: (i) the distribution of these costs across taxa, geographic regions and cost types; (ii) the temporal dynamics of global costs; and (iii) knowledge gaps, especially compared to terrestrial IAS. Based on the costs recorded from the existing literature, the global cost of aquatic IAS conservatively summed to US$345 billion, with the majority attributed to invertebrates (62%), followed by vertebrates (28%), then plants (6%). The largest costs were reported in North America (48%) and Asia (13%), and were principally a result of resource damages (74%); only 6% of recorded costs were from management. The magnitude and number of reported costs were highest in the United States of America and for semi-aquatic taxa. Many countries and known aquatic alien species had no reported costs, especially in Africa and Asia. Accordingly, a network analysis revealed limited connectivity among countries, indicating disparate cost reporting. Aquatic IAS costs have increased in recent decades by several orders of magnitude, reaching at least US$23 billion in 2020. Costs are likely considerably underrepresented compared to terrestrial IAS; only 5% of reported costs were from aquatic species, despite 26% of known invaders being aquatic. Additionally, only 1% of aquatic invasion costs were from marine species. Costs of aquatic IAS are thus substantial, but likely underreported. Costs have increased over time and are expected to continue rising with future invasions. We urge increased and improved cost reporting by managers, practitioners and researchers to reduce knowledge gaps. Few costs are proactive investments; increased management spending is urgently needed to prevent and limit current and future aquatic IAS damages.
Keywords: Brackish Freshwater Habitat biases InvaCost Marine Monetary impact
Programme: 136
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Matthias Macé, Camille Richeval, Liubomira Romanova, Patrice Gérard, Sylvie Duchesne, Catherine Cannet, Irina Boyarskikh, Annie Gérault, Vincent Zvénigorosky, Darya Nikolaeva, Charles Stepanoff, Delphine Allorge, Michele Debrenne, Bertrand Ludes, Anatoly Alexeev, Jean-Michel Gaulier, Eric Crubézy. (2021). Impact of socio-economic traditions on current tobacco and tea addictions (Siberia 17th to 20th century).
Abstract: Objective To investigate how tobacco and tea spread among virgin populations and how the first addictions have subsequently influenced the behavior of present-day populations. Design Retrospective observational study using data from frozen burials and levels of theobromine, theophylline, caffeine, nicotine, and cotinine measured in hair samples from frozen bodies of autochthonous people. Confrontation of the results with new ethnobotanical, historical and cultural data from the past and with present day epidemiological data from the same region. Setting Eastern Siberia (Yakutia) from the contact with Europeans (17th century) to the assimilation of people into Russian society (19th century). Participants 47 frozen bodies of autochthonous people from eastern Siberia and a review of present-day populations from Yakutia Intervention Levels of theobromine, theophylline, caffeine, nicotine, and cotinine were measured in hair samples. Along with the collection of cultural data associated with the bodies, potential comorbidities were investigated. Main outcome measure We combined LC-HRMS and LC-MS/MS tools for toxicological investigations in hair and we assessed the association between xenobiotic concentrations and geography using several permutation-based methods to infer the economic circuits of tobacco and tea. Comparison of the results obtained with ethno-botanical analyses allowed to identify the products from which the metabolites were derived. Results Hair levels of theobromine, theophylline and caffeine vary with the type of beverage consumed: green, black or local herbal teas. At the beginning of our study period, a few heavy consumers of tobacco were found among light or passive consumers. Tobacco-related co-morbidities began to be recorded one century after contact with Europeans. Heavy tea users were only found from the 19th century and the heaviest users of the two substances date from this century. After the first contact, teas were widely consumed as beverages and medicines but also for shamanic reasons. Economic factors, fashion and social and family contacts seem to have played a decisive role in tobacco consumption very early on. Conclusion Epidemiological characteristics of present-day Yakutia suggest that the high prevalence of smokers and tea consumers, the prevalence of female smokers and tobacco use in the north, find their origins in the diffusion phenomena of the 18th and 19th century. Behavioral evolution governed the process of substance integration and was determinant for the continuity of use of these substances over a long period of time.
Programme: 1038
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