Abstract: Albatrosses attend fishing boats to feed on fishing discards but are often at risk of accidental bycatch. To examine whether populations (same species) and sexes differ in their overlap with fisheries due to differences in habitat use, we combined the use of recently developed loggers equipped with GPS and boat radar detectors with Automatic Identification System (AIS) data. Our study indicates that incubating wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans from Crozet and Kerguelen foraged in different habitats although the duration of trips was similar. Both female and male Kerguelen birds took advantage of the large and productive surrounding shelf, whereas Crozet birds used the small shelf around the islands to a lesser extent. In Crozet, there was segregation between males and females, the latter favouring deeper and warmer waters. The 2 strategies of habitat use led to different overlap and attraction to boats, with Kerguelen birds encountering and attending boats for longer and at closer proximity to the colony than Crozet birds. Crozet females encountered boats at greater distances from the colony than males. Because of their different habitat use and foraging outside exclusive economic zones (EEZ) and further from the colony, Crozet birds attended more non-declared boats (without AIS) than Kerguelen birds. Albatrosses were more attracted by fisheries than cargo vessels and were especially attracted by fishing discards that led them to attend vessels for longer periods for both sexes and populations. The differences found between populations and individuals in terms of habitat specialization and encounter rate of fisheries should be considered for future assessments of risk of bycatch.

Abstract: In vivo and in vitro evidence for detoxification of methylmercury (MeHg) as insoluble mercury selenide (HgSe) underlies the central paradigm that mercury exposure is not or little hazardous when tissue Se is in molar excess (Se:Hg > 1). However, this hypothesis overlooks the binding of Hg to selenoproteins, which lowers the amount of bioavailable Se that acts as a detoxification reservoir for MeHg, thereby underestimating the toxicity of mercury. This question was addressed by determining the chemical forms of Hg in various tissues of giant petrels Macronectes spp. using a combination of high energy-resolution X-ray absorption near edge structure and extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy coupled to elemental mapping. Three main Hg species were identified, a MeHg-cysteinate complex, a four-coordinate selenocysteinate complex (Hg(Sec)4), and a HgSe precipitate, together with a minor dicysteinate complex Hg(Cys)2. The amount of HgSe decreases in the order liver > kidneys > brain = muscle, and the amount of Hg(Sec)4 in the order muscle > kidneys > brain > liver. On the basis of biochemical considerations and structural modeling, we hypothesize that Hg(Sec)4 is bound to the carboxy-terminus domain of selenoprotein P (SelP) which contains 12 Sec residues. Structural flexibility allows SelP to form multinuclear Hgx(Se,Sec)y complexes, which can be biomineralized to HgSe by protein self-assembly. Because Hg(Sec)4 has a Se:Hg molar ratio of 4:1, this species severely depletes the stock of bioavailable Se for selenoprotein synthesis and activity to one ?g Se/g dry wet in the muscle of several birds. This concentration is still relatively high because selenium is naturally abundant in seawater, therefore it probably does not fall below the metabolic need for essential selenium. However, this study shows that this may not be the case for terrestrial animals, and that muscle may be the first tissue potentially injured by Hg toxicity.

Abstract: A wide range of animal species accumulate objects in, on, and/or around structures they build. Sometimes, these accumulations serve specific functions (e.g. structural or isolating features) or are purely incidental, while in other cases the materials are deliberately displayed to serve signalling purposes (extended phenotype signals). In this pilot study, we employed systematic in situ observations and camera trapping to describe for the first time that both partners of a territorial shorebird, the black-faced sheathbill (Chionis minor ssp minor) collect, carry, and arrange colourful marine shells and dry twigs within and around their nest cavity. Our observations expand the taxonomic breadth of avian extended phenotype signals, by showing that at least one species within a largely understudied group i.e., Charadriiformes, exhibits nest-decoration behaviour. Multiple manipulative experiments are needed to explore further the signalling function of these decorations, which opens new exciting avenues for animal communication and cognition research.