. (2020). Global variability in seawater Mg:Ca and Sr:Ca ratios in the modern ocean (Vol. 117). Bachelor's thesis, , .
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Barbraud, C., Weimerskirch, H., Bost, C.A., Forcada, J., Trathan, P., Ainley, D. (2008). Are king penguin populations threatened by Southern Ocean warming? Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 105(26), E38.
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Harding A.M.A., Kitaysky A.S., Hall, M.E., Welcker, J., Karnovsky, N.J., Talbot, S.L., Hamer, K.C. & Gremillet D. (2009). Flexibility in the parental effort of an Arctic-breeding seabird. Functional ecology, 23(2), 348–358.
Abstract: Parental investment strategies are considered to represent a trade-off between the benefits of investment in current offspring and costs to future reproduction. Due to their high residual reproductive value, long-lived organisms are predicted to be more reluctant to increase parental effort. We tested the hypothesis that breeding little auks (Alle alle) have a fixed level of reproductive investment, and thus reduce parental effort when costs associated with reproduction increase. To test this hypothesis we experimentally increased the flight costs of breeding little auks via feather clipping. In 2005 we examined changes in the condition of manipulated parents, of the mates of manipulated parents, and of their chick as direct measures of change in parental resource allocation between self-maintenance and current reproduction. In 2007 we increased sample sizes to determine whether there was a physiological cost (elevated corticosterone, CORT) associated with the manipulation. We found that: (i) clipped birds and their mates lost more body mass than controls, but there was no difference in mass loss between members of a pair; (ii) clipped birds had higher CORT levels than control birds; (iii) there were no inter-annual differences in body mass and CORT levels between clipped individuals and their mates at recapture, and (iv) chicks with a clipped parent had lower peak and fledging mass, and higher CORT levels than control chicks in both years. Contrary to our hypothesis, the reduction in body mass of partners to clipped birds suggests that little auks can increase parental effort to some extent. Nonetheless, the lower fledging mass and higher CORT of chicks with a clipped parent indicates provisioning rates may not have been fully maintained. As predicted by life-history theory, there may be a threshold to the additional reproductive costs breeders will accept, with parents prioritizing self-maintenance over increased provisioning effort when foraging costs become too high.
Programme: 388
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. (2020). When do older birds better resist stress? A study of the corticosterone stress response in snow petrels (Vol. 16). Bachelor's thesis, Royal Society, .
Abstract: Life-history theory predicts that, to optimize their fitness, individuals should increase their reproductive effort as their residual reproductive value decreases. Accordingly, several studies have shown that individuals downregulate their glucocorticoid stress response (a proxy of reproductive investment in vertebrates) as they age, and as the subsequent reproductive value decreases. However, and surprisingly, results appear inconsistent, suggesting that the environmental context or the individual state may affect the relationship between age and reproductive effort. Here, we tested for the first time this hypothesis, and more specifically, whether this attenuation of the corticosterone stress response with advancing age depends on the energetic status of individuals. We compared the influence of age on the corticosterone stress response between fasting and non-fasting breeding snow petrels (Pagodroma nivea), an extremely long-lived bird. As expected, we found that the corticosterone stress response was attenuated in old petrels, but only when they were not fasting. Interestingly, this pattern was not apparent in fasting petrels, suggesting that old birds downregulate their corticosterone stress response and increase their parental investment only when they are in good body condition. At the ultimate level, old individuals may maintain a strong corticosterone stress response when fasting because the survival costs of increased stress resistance and parental effort might then outweigh their reproductive benefits.
Programme: 109
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J.P. Braly. (2008).
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. (2008).
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Soubeyran Y. (2008).
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Magand, O.; Picard, G.; Brucker, L.; Fily, M.; Genthon, C. (2008). Snow melting bias in microwave mapping of Antarctic snow accumulation. TCD, 2(2), 255–273.
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Schott J.J. & Rasson, J.L. (2007). Observatories in Antarctica.
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Morin, S.; Savarino, J.; Frey, M.M.; Yan, N.; Bekki, S.; Bottenheim, J.W.; Martins, J.M.F. (2008). Tracing the Origin and Fate of NOx in the Arctic Atmosphere Using Stable Isotopes in Nitrate. Science, 322(5902), 730–732.
Abstract: Atmospheric nitrogen oxides (NOx =NO+ NO2) play a pivotal role in the cycling of reactive nitrogen (ultimately deposited as nitrate) and the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere. Combined measurements of nitrogen and oxygen stable isotope ratios of nitrate collected in the Arctic atmosphere were used to infer the origin and fate of NOx and nitrate on a seasonal basis. In spring, photochemically driven emissions of reactive nitrogen from the snowpack into the atmosphere make local oxidation of NOx by bromine oxide the major contributor to the nitrate budget. The comprehensive isotopic composition of nitrate provides strong constraints on the relative importance of the key atmospheric oxidants in the present atmosphere, with the potential for extension into the past using ice cores.
Programme: 1011
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