DATASETS FOR: A keystone avian predator faces elevated energy expenditure in a warming Arctic
Creators
- 1. University of La Rochelle
- 2. University of Montpellier
- 3. Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé
- 4. McGill University
- 5. University College Cork
- 6. University of Gdansk
Description
Here, we provide two datasets from a study in which we used triaxial accelerometers (Axy 4, Technosmart, 3g) to collect detailed behavioral records from little auks (Alle alle) at Ukaleqarteq (UK), East Greenland (70°44′N, 21°35′W) and Hornsund (HS) (77°00′N, 15°33′E; Svalbard archipelago), during the chick rearing period. We used this data to compile time activity budgets, from which we estimated daily energy expenditure (DEE). Data spans five years (2017-2021) at UK and two years at HS (2020, 2021). We assessed whether variation in DEE was affected by variability in climate change-sensitive environmental variables that affect availability of the little auk’s resource base of cold water zooplankton, that is sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice coverage (SIC). SIC was only used for UK, since there was no appreciable sea ice at HS, which experiences higher average SST than UK. We also obtained small ~0.2-0.5 ml blood samples from the brachial veins of focal individuals to measure contamination from a potent chemical contaminant, mercury (Hg). We assessed the hypothesis that DEE is forced upward by challenging foraging conditions, but may be limited at some point due to energetic thresholds. We also assessed whether Hg contamination levels modified patterns of energy expenditure.
In addition, to further examine the relationship that emerged between DEE and SST, we compiled a dataset of 12 site-year observations of average DEE of breeding little auks using data from Gabrielsen et al. (1991) (n = 13), Grémillet et al. (2012) (n = 70) and the present study. This dataset spanned 35 years (1986-2021) and 3 sites (UK, HS, and Kongsfjorden, KF). KF is another breeding colony of little auks on Svalbard that experiences even warmer SST than HS.
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Additional details
Funding
- BehavToxArc – BEHAVIOURAL ECOTOXIOCOLOGY MEETS CLIMATE CHANGE: Interactive effects of mercury pollution and climate change on behaviour, physiology and fitness in a keystone arctic seabird 896866
- European Commission
- DeToxSea – Demographical effects of toxic contamination on Arctic seabirds 101024166
- European Commission
- BioenergArc – Bioenergetic Effects of Anthropogenic Contaminants and Climate Change on a Keystone Arctic Seabird 101025549
- European Commission