Sex ratio in lesser black-backed gull in relation to environmental pollutants |
| |
Authors: | Kjell Einar Erikstad Jan Ove Bustnes Svein-Håkon Lorentsen Tone Kristin Reiertsen |
| |
Institution: | 1.Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Department of Arctic Ecology,The Polar Environmental Centre,Troms?,Norway;2.Department of Terrestrial Ecology,Norwegian Institute for Nature Research,Trondheim,Norway;3.Department of Biology, Faculty of Science,University of Troms?,Troms?,Norway |
| |
Abstract: | In birds, there is ample evidence that the mother can manipulate the sex of the young and produce more of the sex, which gives
the highest fitness return. This has previously been documented in gulls, Laridae. Gulls are sexually size dimorphic with
males larger than females, and there is good evidence that parents in poor body condition switch their investment to the smallest
sex. In the present study, we examined the primary sex ratio and the survival of male and female chicks of lesser black-backed
gull (Larus fuscus fuscus) in relation to their blood levels of organochlorines (OCs), perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) and polybrominated diphenyl
ethers (BDE-47). We show that females with high levels of OCs (but not PFCs and BDE-47) are likely to skew their sex ratio
at hatching towards female offspring. Few females had very high levels of OCs, and the many females with low levels of OCs
overproduced sons resulting in a male skew at hatching (59%). The survival of female offspring was lower than the survival
of male offspring, causing an even stronger male skew in sex ratio (71%). There is evidence to conclude that circulating levels
of OCs in the blood of females may have detrimental effect on the sex allocation strategy and could be of serious threat to
the population.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. |
| |
Keywords: | Lesser black-backed gull Sex ratio Environmental pollutants Chick survival |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|