How are environmental contaminants deposited into feathers ?

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Table of contents

Chapter 1.. Introduction
1.1. Environmental contaminants: origin and fate in marine ecosystems
1.1.1. Definitions and toxic effects in vertebrates
1.1.2. Sources, large-scale movements and role of the World Ocean
1.1.3. Fate in organisms and food webs
1.1.4. Birds as bioindicators: a critical role
1.2. The Southern Ocean and its avian predators
1.2.1. Oceanographic features
1.2.2. Southern Ocean seabirds: cycle and feeding habits
1.3. Main objective and outline of the thesis
Chapter 2.. Methodological approach: sampling blood and feathers and the stable isotope method
2.1. Advantages of the non-destructive sampling of blood and feathers
2.2. How do environmental contaminants partition between internal organs and blood?.
2.3. How are environmental contaminants deposited into feathers?
2.4. Why using the stable isotope method?
2.5. The problem of synchronous vs. asynchronous moults
2.6. The problem of adults vs. chicks
2.7. Summary
Chapter 3.. What are the main explanatory factors of contaminant exposure and bioaccumulation?
3.1. Intrinsic vs. extrinsic factors driving variation in seabird contaminant concentrations
3.2. Why using the wandering albatross to assess the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on variation in environmental contaminant concentrations?
3.3. Does age affect environmental contaminant concentrations in blood and feathers?
3.3.1. Age-class differences in Hg concentrations in feathers
3.3.2. Adult age: case study of the wandering albatross
3.4. Do other potential physiological differences affect contaminant concentrations in blood and feathers?
3.4.1. Gender
3.4.2. Reproductive status
3.4.3. Phylogeny
3.5. Influence of extrinsic factors: does feeding ecology explain contaminant exposure?
3.5.1. Between-species variation in Hg exposure: case study of the Kerguelen community
3.5.2. Between-individual variation in contaminant exposure: case study of gentoo penguins and wandering albatrosses
3.6. Summary
Chapter 4.. Spatial and temporal variation in contaminant transfer to seabirds in the southern Indian Ocean
4.1. Spatial trends of environmental contaminant transfer to seabirds
4.1.1. Spatial variation in Hg transfer to seabirds
4.1.2. Spatial variation in POPs transfer to seabirds.
4.2. Temporal trends of Hg transfer to seabirds: insights from penguin feathers
4.3. Summary
Chapter 5… Conclusions, Critical evaluation and Perspectives
5.1. Conclusions
5.1.1. Highlights of the doctoral work
5.1.2. The main contaminants in the southern Indian Ocean and elsewhere
5.1.3. Are the measured concentrations of concern?
5.1.4. What are the best bioindicator species for biomonitoring?
5.2. Critical evaluation and perspectives
5.2.1. What do blood and feather contaminant concentrations really mean? .
5.2.2. Can we better identify the source of contaminant exposure in seabirds? .
5.2.3. Are contaminants threatening the immune system of TAAF seabirds? .
5.2.4. Monitoring future trends of contamination in the southern Indian Ocean.
Bibliography