Relationships between mercury burden, sex, and sexually selected feather ornaments in crested auklet (Aethia cristatella)
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Issue date
2020-03-04Submitted date
2020-04-01Subject Terms
AlcidaeAsymmetry
Mercury
Ornament
Quality
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Show full item recordAbstract
Individuals with higher contaminant burdens are expected to be in poorer physical health and be of lower individual body condition and energetic status, potentially resulting in reduced ornamentation or increased asymmetry in bilateral features. The degree and magnitude of this effect also would be expected to vary by sex, as female birds depurate contaminants into eggs. We tested for relationships among mercury in feathers, sex, and elaborate feather ornaments that relate to individual quality in crested auklets (Aethia cristatella), small planktivorous seabirds in the North Pacific Ocean. We found no relationships between mercury and the size of individuals’ forehead crest or degree of measurement asymmetry in auricular plumes, both of which are favoured by intersexual selection. Females had significantly greater mercury concentrations than males (females. 1.02 ± 0.39 μg/g; males, 0.75 ± 0.32 μg/g); but concentrations were below that known to have physiological effects, as expected for a secondary consumer. Sex differences in overwintering area for this long-distance migrant species (more females in the Kuroshio Current Large Marine Ecosystem than males) could be the reason for this seemingly counterintuitive result between sexes. Further research relating mercury burden to overwintering ecology and diet contents would build on our results and further elucidate interrelationships between sex, sexually selected feather ornaments and contaminant burden.Citation
Bond, A.L., Jones, I.L. Relationships between mercury burden, sex, and sexually selected feather ornaments in crested auklet (Aethia cristatella). Environ Sci Pollut Res (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08219-zPublisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLCType
Journal ArticleItem Description
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The attached document is the authors’ final accepted/submitted version of the journal article. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it.NHM Repository
ISSN
0944-1344EISSN
1614-7499ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1007/s11356-020-08219-z
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