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Douce P., Saiz H., Benot M.-l., Mermillod-blondin F., Simon L., Renault D., Vallier F., Oury Y., Fontaine M., Bittebiere A.-k. (2023). Functional characteristics rather than co-occurrences determine the outcome of interactions between neighbouring plants in sub-Antarctic ponds: Consequences for macrophyte community biomass (Vol. 68).
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Federico Scoto, Gianluca Pappaccogli, Mauro Mazzola, Antonio Donateo, Roberto Salzano, Matteo Monzali, Fabrizio de Blasi, Catherine Larose, Jean-Charles Gallet, Stefano Decesari, Andrea Spolaor. (2023). Automated observation of physical snowpack properties in Ny-Ålesund (Vol. 11).
Abstract: The snow season in the Svalbard archipelago generally lasts 6–10 months a year and significantly impacts the regional climate, glaciers mass balance, permafrost thermal regime and ecology. Due to the lack of long-term continuous snowpack physical data, it is still challenging for the numerical snow physics models to simulate multi-layer snowpack evolution, especially for remote Arctic areas. To fill this gap, in November 2020, an automated nivometric station (ANS) was installed ∼1 km Southwest from the settlement of Ny-Ålesund (Spitzbergen, Svalbard), in a flat area over the lowland tundra. It automatically provides continuous snow data, including NIR images of the fractional snow-cover area (fSCA), snow depth (SD), internal snow temperature and liquid water content (LWC) profiles at different depths with a 10 min time resolution. Here we present the first-year record of automatic snow preliminary measurements collected between November 2020 and July 2021 together with weekly manual observations for comparison. The snow season at the ANS site lasted for 225 days with an annual net accumulation of 117 cm (392 mm of water equivalent). The LWC in the snowpack was generally low (<4%) during wintertime, nevertheless, we observed three snow-melting events between November and February 2021 and one in June 2021, connected with positive temperature and rain on snow events (ROS). In view of the foreseen future developments, the ANS is the first automated, comprehensive snowpack monitoring system in Ny-Ålesund measuring key essential climate variables needed to understand the seasonal evolution of the snow cover on land.
Programme: 1192
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C. Sauser, F. Angelier, P. Blévin, O. Chastel, G.W. Gabrielsen, W. Jouanneau, A. Kato, B. Moe, F. Ramírez, S. Tartu, S. Descamps. (2023). Demographic responses of Arctic seabirds to spring sea-ice variations (Vol. 11).
Abstract: The Arctic experiences a rapid retreat of sea-ice, particularly in spring and summer, which may dramatically affect pagophilic species. In recent years, the decline of many Arctic seabird populations has raised concerns about the potential role of sea-ice habitats on their demography. Spring sea-ice drives the dynamics of phytoplankton blooms, the basis of Arctic food webs, and changes in spring sea-ice have the potential to affect the demographic parameters of seabirds through bottom-up processes. To better understand the effects of spring sea-ice on Arctic seabirds, we investigated the influence of spring sea-ice concentration on the survival and breeding success of three seabird species with contrasted foraging strategies in two Svalbard fjords in the high Arctic. We examined these relationships using long-term demographic data (2005–2021) from black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), Brünnich guillemots (Uria lomvia), and little auks (Alle alle). Spring sea-ice concentration was positively related to both the survival and breeding success of little auks, suggesting a higher sensitivity of this species to spring sea-ice. By contrast, the two other species were not particularly sensitive to changes in spring sea-ice, even though a potentially spurious negative effect on the breeding success of black-legged kittiwakes was observed. Overall, the study suggests that spring sea-ice may be involved in the demography of Arctic seabirds, but probably does not play a major role.
Programme: 330
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Coline Marciau, Thierry Raclot, Sophie Bestley, Christophe Barbraud, Karine Delord, Mark Andrew Hindell, Akiko Kato, Charline Parenteau, Timothée Poupart, Cécile Ribout, Yan Ropert-Coudert, Frédéric Angelier. (2023). Body condition and corticosterone stress response, as markers to investigate effects of human activities on Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) (Vol. 11).
Abstract: In Antarctica, there is growing concern about the potential effect of anthropogenic activities (i.e., tourism, research) on wildlife, especially since human activities are developing at an unprecedented rate. Although guidelines exist to mitigate negative impacts, fundamental data are currently lacking to reliably assess impacts. Physiological tools, such as circulating corticosterone levels, appear promising to assess the potential impact of human disturbance on Antarctic vertebrates. In this study, we compared the body condition, and the physiological sensitivity to stress (i.e., basal and stress-induced corticosterone level) of adult and chick Adélie penguins between a disturbed and an undisturbed area (i.e., 2 colonies located in the middle of a research station exposed to intense human activities and 2 colonies located on protected islands with minimal human disturbance). We did not find any significant impact of human activities on body condition and corticosterone levels in adults (incubating adults, brooding adults). In chicks, there were significant inter-colony variations in stress-induced corticosterone levels. Specifically, the chicks from the disturbed colonies tended to have higher stress-induced corticosterone levels than the chicks from the protected areas although this difference between areas was not significant. Overall, our study suggests that this species is not dramatically impacted by human activities, at least when humans and penguins have cohabited for several decades. Our results support therefore the idea that this species is likely to be tolerant to human disturbance and this corroborates with the persistence of Adélie penguin colonies in the middle of the research station. However, our results also suggest that chicks might be more sensitive to human disturbance than adults and might therefore potentially suffer from human disturbance. In addition, and independently of human disturbance we also found significant differences in adult body condition, and chick corticosterone level between colonies, suggesting that other individual and environmental variables outweigh the potential minor impact of human disturbance on these variables. Combining corticosterone with complementary stress-related physiological markers, such as heart rate, may strengthen further studies examining whether human disturbance may have subtle detrimental impacts on individuals.
Keywords: Antarctica basal corticosterone disturbance Human activity Pygoscelis adeliae seabird stress response stress-induced corticosterone
Programme: 1091
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Fanny Thibon, Lucas Weppe, Carine Churlaud, Thomas Lacoue-Labarthe, Stéphane Gasparini, Yves Cherel, Paco Bustamante, Nathalie Vigier. (2023). Lithium isotopes in marine food webs: Effect of ecological and environmental parameters (Vol. 3).
Abstract: Non-conventional stable isotopes have received increasing attention in the past decade to investigate multi-level ecological connections from individuals to ecosystems. More recently, isotopes from trace and non-nutrient elements, potentially toxic (i.e., Hg), have also been recognized of great significance to discriminate sources, transports, and bioaccumulation, as well as trophic transfers. In contrast, lithium (Li) concentrations and its isotope compositions (δ7Li) remain poorly documented in aquatic ecosystems, despite its possible accumulation in marine organisms, its increasing industrial production, and its demonstrated hazardous effects on biota. Here, we present the first Li isotope investigation of various soft tissues, organs or whole organisms, from marine plankton, bivalves, cephalopods, crustaceans, and fish of different biogeographical regions [North Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay), South East Pacific Ocean (New Caledonia), and Southern Indian Ocean (Kerguelen Islands)]. Independently of the considered organisms, δ7Li values range widely, from 4.6‰ (digestive gland of bivalves) to 32.0‰ (zooplankton). Compared to homogeneous seawater (δ7Li ∼ 31.2‰ ± .3‰), marine organisms mostly fractionate Li isotopes in favor of the light isotope (6Li). Within the same taxonomic group, significant differences are observed among organs, indicating a key role of physiology on Li concentrations and on the distribution of Li isotopes. Statistically, the trophic position is only slightly related to the average Li isotope composition of soft tissues of marine organisms, but this aspect deserves further investigation at the organ level. Other potential influences are the Li uptake by ingestion or gill ventilation. Overall, this work constitutes the first δ7Li extensive baseline in soft tissues of coastal organisms from different large geographic areas mostly preserved from significant anthropogenic Li contamination.
Programme: 109
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Joris Laborie, Matthieu Authier, Adrien Chaigne, Karine Delord, Henri Weimerskirch, Christophe Guinet. (2023). Estimation of total population size of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) on Kerguelen and Crozet Archipelagos using very high-resolution satellite imagery (Vol. 10). Bachelor's thesis, , .
Abstract: Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) play a pivotal role in the Southern Ocean as wide-ranging marine predators and major prey consumers within Southern Ocean marine ecosystems. Due to their circumpolar distribution and the remoteness of their habitat, large uncertainties remain about their total population sizes. This is especially true for elephant seal populations in the French Southern Territories in the southern Indian Ocean (i.e. Crozet and Kerguelen Archipelagos) as many breeding sites are inaccessible for ground censuses. Here, we present a simple and efficient approach for estimating the total elephant seal populations of the Kerguelen and Crozet Archipelagos by using very high-resolution satellite imagery (<1m resolution). Twenty-eight satellite images taken during the breeding season to count female elephant seals in inaccessible areas were used and complemented the traditional annual ground counts in accessible areas. For Kerguelen Island sectors likely to host colonies and where no satellite images were available for the breeding season, a statistical predictive model was built to estimate the most likely number of breeding females to be present on a given beach according to its physiographic characteristics. Our results show the reliability of using very high-resolution satellite images, a relatively low-cost platform, to count pinniped populations and provide the first estimation of the total southern elephant seal population for both the Kerguelen 347,995 (s e = 4,950) and Crozet 13,065 (s e = 169) Archipelagos. The combined total represents over 35% of the global elephant seal population with the Kerguelen stock being numerically equivalent to the South Georgia stock. In addition, we re-examined the population trends since the last mid-century for Kerguelen and over the last five decades for Crozet. The demographic trends of the southern Indian Ocean populations show marked growth over the last decade (5.1% and 1.6% annual growth rate for Crozet and Kerguelen respectively), particularly on Crozet where the elephant seal population has more than tripled.
Programme: 109,1201
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Loïc Le Ster, Hervé Claustre, Francesco d’Ovidio, David Nerini, Baptiste Picard, Christophe Guinet. (2023). Improved accuracy and spatial resolution for bio-logging-derived chlorophyll a fluorescence measurements in the Southern Ocean (Vol. 10).
Abstract: The ocean’s meso- and submeso-scales (1-100 km, days to weeks) host features like filaments and eddies that have a key structuring effect on phytoplankton distribution, but that due to their ephemeral nature, are challenging to observe. This problem is exacerbated in regions with heavy cloud coverage and/or difficult access like the Southern Ocean, where observations of phytoplankton distribution by satellite are sparse, manned campaigns costly, and automated devices limited by power consumption. Here, we address this issue by considering high-resolution in-situ data from 18 bio-logging devices deployed on southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) in the Kerguelen Islands between 2018 and 2020. These devices have submesoscale-resolving capabilities of light profiles due to the high spatio-temporal frequency of the animals’ dives (on average 1.1 +-0.6 km between consecutive dives, up to 60 dives per day), but observations of fluorescence are much coarser due to power constraints. Furthermore, the chlorophyll a concentrations derived from the (uncalibrated) bio-logging devices’ fluorescence sensors lack a common benchmark to properly qualify the data and allow comparisons of observations. By proposing a method based on functional data analysis, we show that a reliable predictor of chlorophyll a concentration can be constructed from light profiles (14 686 in our study). The combined use of light profiles and matchups with satellite ocean-color data enable effective (1) homogenization then calibration of the bio-logging devices’ fluorescence data and (2) filling of the spatial gaps in coarse-grained fluorescence sampling. The developed method improves the spatial resolution of the chlorophyll a field description from ~30 km to ~12 km. These results open the way to empirical study of the coupling between physical forcing and biological response at submesoscale in the Southern Ocean, especially useful in the context of upcoming high-resolution ocean-circulation satellite missions.
Programme: 109
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Loïc Le Ster, Hervé Claustre, Francesco d’Ovidio, David Nerini, Baptiste Picard, Christophe Guinet. (2023). Improved accuracy and spatial resolution for bio-logging-derived chlorophyll a fluorescence measurements in the Southern Ocean (Vol. 10).
Abstract: The ocean’s meso- and submeso-scales (1-100 km, days to weeks) host features like filaments and eddies that have a key structuring effect on phytoplankton distribution, but that due to their ephemeral nature, are challenging to observe. This problem is exacerbated in regions with heavy cloud coverage and/or difficult access like the Southern Ocean, where observations of phytoplankton distribution by satellite are sparse, manned campaigns costly, and automated devices limited by power consumption. Here, we address this issue by considering high-resolution in-situ data from 18 bio-logging devices deployed on southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) in the Kerguelen Islands between 2018 and 2020. These devices have submesoscale-resolving capabilities of light profiles due to the high spatio-temporal frequency of the animals’ dives (on average 1.1 +-0.6 km between consecutive dives, up to 60 dives per day), but observations of fluorescence are much coarser due to power constraints. Furthermore, the chlorophyll a concentrations derived from the (uncalibrated) bio-logging devices’ fluorescence sensors lack a common benchmark to properly qualify the data and allow comparisons of observations. By proposing a method based on functional data analysis, we show that a reliable predictor of chlorophyll a concentration can be constructed from light profiles (14 686 in our study). The combined use of light profiles and matchups with satellite ocean-color data enable effective (1) homogenization then calibration of the bio-logging devices’ fluorescence data and (2) filling of the spatial gaps in coarse-grained fluorescence sampling. The developed method improves the spatial resolution of the chlorophyll a field description from ~30 km to ~12 km. These results open the way to empirical study of the coupling between physical forcing and biological response at submesoscale in the Southern Ocean, especially useful in the context of upcoming high-resolution ocean-circulation satellite missions.
Keywords: bio-logging tag chla fluorescence Sensor calibration Southern elephant seal Southern Ocean Submesoscale
Programme: 1201
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Juliet Lamb, Jeremy Tornos, Romain Dedet, Hubert Gantelet, Nicolas Keck, Juliette Baron, Marine Bely, Augustin Clessin, Aline Flechet, Amandine Gamble, Thierry Boulinier. (2023). Hanging out at the club: Breeding status and territoriality affect individual space use, multi-species overlap and pathogen transmission risk at a seabird colony (Vol. 37).
Abstract: Wildlife movement ecology often focuses on breeders, whose territorial attachments facilitate trapping and following individuals over time. This leads to incomplete understanding of movements of individuals not actively breeding due to age, breeding failure, subordinance, and other factors. These individuals are often present in breeding populations and contribute to processes such as competition and pathogen spread. Therefore, excluding them from movement ecology studies could bias or mask important spatial dynamics. Loafing areas offer an alternative to breeding sites for capturing and tracking individuals. Such sites may allow for sampling individuals regardless of breeding status, while also avoiding disturbance of sensitive breeding areas. However, little is known about the breeding status of individuals attending loafing sites, or how their movements compare to those of breeders captured at nests. We captured a seabird, the brown skua, attending either nests or loafing areas (‘clubs’) at a multi-species seabird breeding site on Amsterdam Island (southern Indian Ocean). We outfitted skuas with GPS-UHF transmitters and inferred breeding statuses of individuals captured at clubs using movement patterns of breeders captured at nests. We then compared space use and activity patterns between breeders and nonbreeders. Both breeding and nonbreeding skuas attended clubs. Nonbreeders ranged more widely, were more active, and overlapped more with other seabirds and marine mammals than did breeders. Moreover, some nonbreeders occupied fixed territories and displayed more restricted movements than those without territories. Nonbreeders became less active over the breeding season, while activity of breeders remained stable. Nonbreeding skuas were exposed to the agent of avian cholera at similar rates to breeders but were more likely to forage in breeding areas of the endangered endemic Amsterdam albatross, increasing opportunities for interspecific pathogen transmission. Our results show that inference based only on breeders fails to capture important aspects of population-wide movement patterns. Capturing nonbreeders as well as breeders would help to improve population-level representation of movement patterns, elucidate and predict effects of external changes and conservation interventions (e.g. rat eradication) on movement patterns and pathogen spread, and develop strategies to manage outbreaks of diseases such as highly pathogenic avian influenza. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Keywords: Diomedea amsterdamensis dynamic space utilization floaters foraging infectious disease nonbreeding Stercorarius antarcticus
Programme: 1151
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Chuxian Li, Maxime Enrico, Oliver Magand, Beatriz F. Araujo, Gaël Le Roux, Stefan Osterwalder, Aurélien Dommergue, Yann Bertrand, Jérôme Brioude, François De Vleeschouwer, Jeroen E. Sonke. (2023). A peat core Hg stable isotope reconstruction of Holocene atmospheric Hg deposition at Amsterdam Island (37.8oS) (Vol. 341).
Abstract: Mercury (Hg) stable isotopes have been broadly used to investigate the sources, transformation and deposition of atmospheric Hg during the industrial era thanks to the multiple isotope signatures deriving from mass-dependent (represented by δ202Hg) and mass-independent fractionation (represented by ΔxxxHg) in the environment. Less is known about the impact of past climate change on atmospheric Hg deposition and cycling, and whether Hg isotopes covary with past climate. Here, we investigate Hg concentration and Hg isotope signatures in a 6600-year-old ombrotrophic peat record from Amsterdam Island (AMS, 37.8oS), and in modern AMS rainfall and gaseous elemental Hg (Hg0) samples. Results show that Holocene atmospheric Hg deposition and plant Hg uptake covary with dust deposition, and are both lower under a high humidity regime associated with enhanced Southern Westerly Winds. Modern AMS gaseous Hg0 and rainfall HgII isotope signatures are similar to those in the Northern Hemisphere (NH). Holocene peat Δ199Hg and Δ200Hg are significantly correlated (R2 = 0.67, P < 0.001, n = 58), consistently oscillating between the modern Hg0 and rainfall HgII end-members. Peat Δ200Hg and Δ199Hg provide evidence of plant uptake of Hg0 as the dominant pathway of Hg deposition to AMS peatland, with some exceptions during humid periods. In contrast to NH archives generally documenting a modern increase in Δ199Hg, recent peat layers (post-1900CE) from AMS show the lowest Δ199Hg in the peat profile (−0.42 ± 0.27 ‰, 1σ, n = 8). This likely reflects a significant change in the post-depositional process on deposited anthropogenic Hg in 20th century (i.e. dark abiotic reduction), enabling more negative Δ199Hg to be observed in AMS peat. We further find that the oscillations of Hg isotopes are consistent with established Holocene climate variability from dust proxies. We suggest peat Hg isotope records might be a valid rainfall indicator.
Keywords: Hg deposition Hg stable isotopes Peat Rain Southern Hemisphere
Programme: 1028
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