Breeding Partners Have Dissimilar Foraging Strategies in a Long-Lived Arctic Seabird.

For long-lived species with biparental care, coordination and compatibility in the foraging behavior of breeding mates may be crucial to successfully raise offspring. While high foraging success is clearly important to reproductive success, it might be equally important that the mate has a complementary foraging strategy. We test whether breeding partners have similar or dissimilar foraging strategies in a species where both partners share breeding responsibilities and exhibit high mate fidelity (thick-billed murre; ).

Differences between mates at the TLR1Lb locus are associated with lower reproductive success in a long-lived seabird.

Genetic diversity can influence fitness components such as survival and reproductive success. Yet the association between genetic diversity and fitness based on neutral loci is sometime very weak and inconsistent, with relationships varying among taxa due to confounding effects of population demography and life history. Fitness-diversity relationships are likely to be stronger and more consistent for genes known to influence phenotypic traits, such as immunity-related genes, and may also depend on the genetic differences between breeding partners.

Environmental Threat Assessment Framework for Mining Activities in Guinea: An Integrated Approach for Sustainable Development.

The present study aimed to investigate the environmental consequences of mining activities in boke bauxite mining areas and the Kerouane iron mining project in Guinea using a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative and qualitative data. A reference matrix was used to evaluate the impact of the mining activities, classifying them as negligible, moderate, or significant. Data were collected from October 2022 to January 2023 by assessing their impact on water pollution, soil, noise, air quality, vegetation, fauna, and flora.

Impact of steel slag, gypsum, and coal gangue on microbial immobilization of metal(loid)s in non-ferrous mine waste dumps.

Non-ferrous mine waste dumps globally generate soil pollution characterized by low pH and high metal(loid)s content. In this study, the steel slag (SS), gypsum (G), and coal gangue (CG) combined with functional bacteria consortium (FB23) were used for immobilizing metal(loid)s in the soil. The result shown that FB23 can effectively decrease As, Pb, and Zn concentrations within 10 d in an aqueous medium experiment.

Influence of sea ice concentration, sex and chick age on foraging flexibility and success in an Arctic seabird.

Declining sea ice and increased variability in sea ice dynamics are altering Arctic marine food webs. Changes in sea ice dynamics and prey availability are likely to impact pagophilic (ice-dependent and ice-associated) species, such as thick-billed murres (), through changes in foraging behaviour and foraging success. At the same time, extrinsic factors, such as chick demand, and intrinsic factors, such as sex, are also likely to influence foraging behaviour and foraging success of adult murres.

Winter Tracking Data Suggest that Migratory Seabirds Transport Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances to Their Arctic Nesting Site.

Seabirds are often considered sentinel species of marine ecosystems, and their blood and eggs utilized to monitor local environmental contaminations. Most seabirds breeding in the Arctic are migratory and thus are exposed to geographically distinct sources of contamination throughout the year, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Despite the abundance and high toxicity of PFAS, little is known about whether blood concentrations at breeding sites reliably reflect local contamination or exposure in distant wintering areas.

Effect of conventional and biodegradable microplastics on the soil-soybean system: A perspective on rhizosphere microbial community and soil element cycling.

As an exogenous carbon input, microplastics (MPs), especially biodegradable MPs, may significantly disrupt soil microbial communities and soil element cycling (CNPS cycling), but few studies have focused on this. Here, we focused on assessing the effects of conventional low-density polyethylene (LDPE), biodegradable polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT), and polylactic acid (PLA) MPs on rhizosphere microbial communities and CNPS cycling in a soil-soybean system. The results showed that PBAT-MPs and PLA-MPs were more detrimental to soybean growth than LDPE-MPs, resulting in a reduction in shoot nitrogen (14.

Individual quality overwrites carry-over effects across the annual cycle of a long-distance migrant.

In seasonal environments, the fitness of animals depends upon the successful integration of life-history stages throughout their annual cycle. Failing to do so can lead to negative carry-over effects where individuals are transitioning into the next season in different states, consequently affecting their future performance. However, carry-over effects can be masked by individual quality when individuals vary in their efficiency at acquiring resources year after year (i.

Abiotic degradations of legacy and novel flame retardants in environmental and food matrices - a review.

Flame retardants (FRs) are commonly added to commercial products to achieve flammability resistance. Since most of them are not chemically bonded to the materials, they could be leached to the environment during the production and disposal cycle. These FRs were categorised based on their chemical nature, including brominated, organophosphorus-, mineral- and nitrogen-based.

Seabirds reveal mercury distribution across the North Atlantic.

Mercury (Hg) is a heterogeneously distributed toxicant affecting wildlife and human health. Yet, the spatial distribution of Hg remains poorly documented, especially in food webs, even though this knowledge is essential to assess large-scale risk of toxicity for the biota and human populations. Here, we used seabirds to assess, at an unprecedented population and geographic magnitude and high resolution, the spatial distribution of Hg in North Atlantic marine food webs.

Considering the bioavailability and bioaccessibility of metal(loid)s for risk assessment of soils affected by different non-ferrous metal activities in Southwest China.

Toxic metal(loid)s released into the soil by non-ferrous metal mining and smelting activities pose a serious threat to residents and the surrounding ecosystem. Considering only total metal(loid) concentrations likely overestimates routine (eco)toxicological risk assessment of soil. We hypothesize that considering metal(loid) bioavailability/accessibility will improve the accuracy of risk assessment.

Indigo-dyed cellulose fibers and synthetic polymers in surface-feeding seabird chick regurgitates from the Gulf of Alaska.

We provide evidence of anthropogenic materials ingestion in seabirds from a remote oceanic area, using regurgitates obtained from black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) chicks from Middleton Island (Gulf of Alaska, USA). By means of GPS tracking of breeding adults, we identified foraging grounds where anthropogenic materials were most likely ingested. They were mainly located within the continental shelf of the Gulf of Alaska and near the Alaskan coastline.

Soil microorganisms play an important role in the detrimental impact of biodegradable microplastics on plants.

Biodegradable plastics were developed to mitigate environmental pollution caused by conventional plastics. Research indicates that biodegradable microplastics still have effects on plants and microorganisms as their non-biodegradable counterparts, yet the effects on vegetable crops are not well-documented. Additionally, the function of soil microorganisms affected by biodegradable microplastics on the fate of microplastics remains unverified.

Native freshwater lake microbial community response to an in situ experimental dilbit spill.

With the increase in crude oil transport throughout Canada, the potential for spills into freshwater ecosystems has increased and additional research is needed in these sensitive environments. Large enclosures erected in a lake were used as mesocosms for this controlled experimental dilbit (diluted bitumen) spill under ambient environmental conditions. The microbial response to dilbit, the efficacy of standard remediation protocols on different shoreline types commonly found in Canadian freshwater lakes, including a testing of a shoreline washing agent were all evaluated.

Bioindicator responses to extreme conditions: Insights into pH and bioavailable metals under acidic metal environments.

Acid mine drainage (AMD) caused environmental risks from heavy metal pollution, requiring treatment methods such as chemical precipitation and biological treatment. Monitoring and adapting treatment processes was crucial for success, but cost-effective pollution monitoring methods were lacking. Using bioindicators measured through 16S rRNA was a promising method to assess environmental pollution.

Trichoplusia ni Transcriptomic Responses to the Phytosaponin Aglycone Hederagenin: Sex-Related Differences.

Many plant species, particularly legumes, protect themselves with saponins. Previously, a correlation was observed between levels of oleanolic acid-derived saponins, such as hederagenin-derived compounds, in the legume Medicago truncatula and caterpillar deterrence. Using concentrations that reflect the foliar levels of hederagenin-type saponins, the sapogenin hederagenin was not toxic to 4th instar caterpillars of the cabbage looper Trichoplusia ni nor did it act as a feeding deterrent.

Effects of three plant growth-promoting bacterial symbiosis with ryegrass for remediation of Cd, Pb, and Zn soil in a mining area.

The quality of soil containing heavy metals (HMs) around nonferrous metal mining areas is often not favorable for plant growth. Three types of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR)-assisted ryegrass were examined here to treat Cd, Pb, and Zn contaminated soil collected from a nonferrous metal smelting facility. The effects of PGPR-assisted plants on soil quality, plant growth, and the migration and transformation of HMs were evaluated.

Relational place-based solutions for environmental policy misalignments.

Current reductionist approaches to environmental governance cannot resolve social-ecological crises. Siloed institutions fail to address linked social and ecological processes, thereby neglecting issues of equity, justice, and cumulative effects. Global insights can be gained from Indigenous-led initiatives that support the resilience of relationships within and among places.

Phosphorus removal from agricultural tile drainage effluent with activated alumina in novel adsorption reactors.

Subsurface tile drains under agricultural field crops are a major source of phosphorus (P) discharge to aquatic ecosystems, contributing to the eutrophication of surface waters. Adsorption reactors for P removal from drainage water (P-reactors) could reduce P outflow from agricultural land but were rarely studied in cold, temperate climates. In our study, four low-cost P-reactors were installed in agricultural fields in south-central Québec, Canada.

A comparison of Tier 1, 2, and 3 methods for quantifying nitrous oxide emissions from soils amended with biosolids.

Municipal biosolids are a nitrogen (N)-rich agricultural fertilizer which may emit nitrous oxide (NO) after rainfall events. Due to sparse empirical data, there is a lack of biosolids-specific NO emission factors to determine how land-applied biosolids contribute to the national greenhouse gas inventory. This study estimated NO emissions from biosolids-amended land in Canada using Tier 1, Tier 2 (Canadian), and Tier 3 (Denitrification and Decomposition model [DNDC]) methodologies recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).