Alice Carravieri (Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, Université de La Rochelle, Villiers-en-Bois, France) and colleagues have published in the Journal Marine Biology on utilizing seabird feathers, including of the ACAP-listed White-chinned Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis, to assess chemical composition as a way of monitoring marine health.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“One major limitation in the use of body feathers of seabirds as a monitoring tool of the trophic structure and contamination levels of marine ecosystems is the degree of heterogeneity in feather chemical composition within individuals.  Here, we tested the hypothesis that moulting patterns drive body feather heterogeneity, with synchronous moult minimizing within-individual variations, in contrast to asynchronous feather growth.  Chicks of white-chinned petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis (representative of bird chicks) and adults of king penguins Aptenodytes patagonicus (representative of adult penguins) that moult their body feathers synchronously showed very low within-individual variations in their feather δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values and mercury (Hg) concentrations.  By contrast, body feathers of adults of Antarctic prions Pachyptila desolata (representative of adult seabirds with asynchronous feather growth during a protracted moult) presented much higher within-individual variances for the three parameters.   These findings have three important implications for birds presenting a synchronous body moult.  (1) They suggest that all body feathers from the same individual have identical δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values and Hg content.  (2) They predict negligible within-individual variations in the body feather values of other useful stable isotopes, such as δ²H and δ³⁴S, as well as in the concentrations of other compounds that are deposited in the keratin structure.  (3) Analysis of one or any number of pooled body feathers is equally representative of the individual.  In conclusion, we recommend that long-term routine monitoring investigations focus on birds presenting synchronous rather than asynchronous moult of body feathers both in marine and terrestrial environments.  This means targeting chicks rather than adults and, for seabirds, penguins rather than adults of flying species.”

White-chinned Petrels, photograph by Ben Phalan

Reference:

Carravieri, A., Buastamante, P., Churlaud, C., Fromant, A. & Cherel, Y. 2014.  Moulting patterns drive within-individual variations of stable isotopes and mercury in seabird body feathers: implications for monitoring of the marine environment.  Marine Biology 161: 963-968.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 September 2014

Carly Summers (School of Agricultural, Forest, and Environmental Sciences, Clemson University, South Carolina, USA) and colleagues have looked at lead and cadmium levels in Wandering Diomedea exulans, Light-mantled Sooty Phoebetria palpebrata and Sooty P. fusca Albatrosses and Northern Macronectes halli and Southern M. giganteus Giant Petrels at South Africa’s sub-Antarctic Marion Island, publishing in the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Levels of lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) were investigated as potential stressors in nine species of breeding seabirds on Marion Island, South Africa.  The majority of blood Pb levels (95 %) were below background exposure levels.  Species was a significant factor in ranked means analysis for mean blood Pb levels.  Fewer individual blood Cd levels (<60 %) were within background exposure levels and species was not significant.  Elevated levels of Cd have been documented in other seabird species without apparent outward effects, which suggests that seabirds may be adapted to high cadmium environments, particularly from their diets.  Overall, the results suggest Pb and Cd are not primary causes for concern in these seabirds.”

Wandering Albatross and chick on Marion Island, photograph by John Cooper

Reference:

Summers, C.F., Bowerman, W.W., Parsons, N., Chao, W.Y. & Bridges Jr., W.C. 2014.  Lead and cadmium in the blood of nine species of seabirds, Marion Island, South Africa.  Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology  DOI 10.1007/s00128-014-1359-6.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 02 September 2014

José Xavier (Department of Life Sciences, Institute of Marine Research, University of Coimbra, Portugal) and colleagues have published in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series on cephalopods consumed by two different populations of Antipodean Albatrosses Diomedea antipodensis.

The paper’s “pre-press abstract” follows:

“Cephalopods play an important ecological role in the Southern Ocean, being the main prey group of numerous top predators.  However, their basic ecology and biogeography is still poorly known, particularly in the lightly sampled Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean.   We collected and analyzed information on cephalopods in that area, using Antipodean and Gibson´s wandering albatrosses breeding at Antipodes Islands and Auckland Islands, respectively in the New Zealand sub-Antarctic islands as samplers, as they are known from tracking studies to cover huge areas of the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean (Antipodean wandering albatrosses mostly forage east of New Zealand whereas Gibson´s wandering albatrosses forage west of New Zealand). A total of 9111 cephalopod beaks, from 41 cephalopod taxa, were identified from boluses (voluntarily regurgitated items by chicks).  The families Histioteuthidae (e.g. Histioteuthis atlantica) and Onychoteuthidae (e.g. Moroteuthis robsoni) were the most important cephalopods numerically and by reconstructed mass, respectively, in both wandering albatross species.  Combining this information with previously gathered data on cephalopods in the Atlantic and Indian sectors of the Southern Ocean, we provide evidence from predators of the circumpolar distribution of numerous key cephalopod species have in the Southern Ocean, and provide new information on poorly known cephalopods (i.e. relevance in the diet of wandering albatrosses, sizes consumed, biodiversity in the South Pacific, assemblages according to predator breeding sites) in one of the most remote ocean areas in the planet.”

Antipodean Albatross, photograph by Colin O'Donnell

Reference:

Xavier, J.C., Walker, K., Elliot, G., Cherel, Y. & Thompson, D. 2014.  Cephalopod fauna of South Pacific waters: new information from breeding New Zealand wandering albatrosses.  Marine Ecology Progress Series doi: 10.3354/meps10957.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 September 2014

Frances Nilsen (Hawai’i Pacific University, Kane’ohe, Hawaii, USA) and colleagues have looked at the various types of plastic ingested by Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis, publishing in the Marine Pollution Bulletin.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Laysan albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) ingest plastic marine debris of a wide range of shape, sizes and sources.  To better characterize this plastic and provide insights regarding its provenance and persistence in the environment, we developed a simple method to classify plastic fragments of unknown origin according to the resin codes used by the Society of Plastics Industry.  Known plastics were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy (GC–MS) to identify indicator chemicals characteristic of each plastic resin.  Application of this method to fragments of ingested plastic debris from boluses of Laysan albatross from Kure Atoll, Hawai’i, yielded proportions of 0.8% High Density Polyethylene, 6.8% Polystyrene, 8.5% Polyethylene Terephthalate, 20.5% Polyvinyl Chloride and 68.4% Polypropylene.  Some fragments were composed of multiple resin types.  These results suggest that infrequently recycled plastics are the dominant fragments ingested by albatross, and that these are the most prevalent and persistent resin types in the marine environment.”

Laysan Albatross, photograph by Peter Leary

Reference:

Frances Nilsen, F., Hyrenbach, K.D., Fang, J. & Jensen, B.2014.  Use of indicator chemicals to characterize the plastic fragments ingested by Laysan albatross.  Marine Pollution Bulletin DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.07.055.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 31 August 2014