SUPREME · Seabirds Under Pressure: Revealing the Effects of Mercury Exposure
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-02-01 → 2023-01-31
- EU contribution
- €196,708
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Seabirds Under Pressure: Revealing the Effects of Mercury Exposure
Mercury is one of the most toxic chemicals for humans and animals. Although efforts have been made in previous years to reduce global mercury emissions, in some countries it remains nevertheless released in large quantities into the atmosphere (e.g. through coal-fueled power plants). In some South American countries, mercury is used extensively in illegal gold mining, poisoning local fish and other animals, and consequently also humans. Although the phenomenon is well known, there are few studies showing the deleterious effects of mercury on human health and on the animals that inhabit these areas. Our aim is to demonstrate that the local fauna suffers from the presence of this contaminant in the environment. To do this, we studied a local seabird population (Magnificent frigatebird), which has been suffering from a viral disease causing episodes of massive mortality of hatchlings for several years. The results of our study are of fundamental importance as they can serve the institutions to implement laws regulating the release of mercury into the environment, and to tighten penalties for those who do not meet these standards. Besides having a great impact on the conservation of local fauna, our project results can have a highly beneficial effect on society and on improving the lives of local indigenous peoples.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Mercury emission into the environment is a globally relevant issue because exposure to mercury represents a significant threat to humans and biodiversity worldwide. Now more than ever, we need to understand how will exposure to mercury contamination affect life history traits of wildlife.SUPREME aims to investigate for the first time the consequences of mercury exposure in seabirds with a particular focus on physiological traits and susceptibility to viral diseases, a topic that clearly deserve further investigations given the dramatic rise in mercury contamination and the likely increase of infectious diseases occurrence in the years to come. The project aims to address two main objectives: i) assess to which extent mercury exposure causes physiological dysfunction and facilitates the manifestation of the disease and ii) determine whether mercury accumulation and viral disease accelerate telomere shortening.The existing high levels of mercury and the annual viral outbreaks that cause the mortality of almost all seabird chicks in the study site (a small island in French Guiana, South America) exploit an unprecedented opportunity to investigate a topic that remains largely unexplored. Not only SUPREME will combine the collection of longitudinal (within-individual variation over time) with experimental data, but will benefit from hundreds of blood samples (i.e. 413) collected by myself from 2015 to 2017.SUPREME has an extra value in terms of conservation because it will be carried out on a colony of Magnificent frigatebirds that is considered one of the most important of South America, acting as a genetic bridge among Brazilian and Caribbean colonies. Never has it been more crucial to liase with competent authorities to implement regulatory measures to limit mercury emission into the environment. SUPREME aims to also reach this objective by demonstrating the impact of environmental contaminants on wildlife health and by transferring the results to local authorities
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- MUSEUM NATIONAL D'HISTOIRE NATURELLE · ParisCoordinatorFrance
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union