title: Oxidative stress in relation to reproduction, contaminants, gender and age in a long-lived seabird.
abstract: Reproduction is a demanding activity for animals, since they must produce, and in some cases protect and provision, their young. It is often overlooked that demands of reproduction may also be exacerbated by exposure to contaminants. In this study, we make use of an exceptional long-term dataset to perform a cross-sectional study on the long-lived wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) in order to test the effects of reproduction, persistent organic pollutants [POPs: pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)], mercury, individual age (3-47 years), and sex on the levels of plasma oxidative damage and inflammation. The results of our study support the hypothesis that oxidative damage may be a physiological cost of reproduction and that individuals carrying higher levels of organic or non-organic contaminants have higher oxidative damage. Levels of the inflammatory protein haptoglobin were similar between breeding and non-breeding birds, with the exception of breeding males which had the lowest levels of haptoglobin. Our data also show an effect of age and of organic contaminants on the plasma oxidative damage level, but not on plasma haptoglobin. In addition, plasma oxidative damage level increased with red blood cell mercury concentration in females but not in males. Hence, our study highlights that the harmful effects of contaminants may come through interaction with factors like life stage or gender, suggesting potential for high variation in susceptibility to contamination among individuals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610, Wilrijk, Belgium, davidcostantini@libero.it.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Costantini
authors.forename: Alizée
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meillère
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carravieri
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lecomte
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sorci
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Faivre
authors.forename: Henri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Weimerskirch
authors.forename: Paco
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bustamante
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Labadie
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Budzinski
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Chastel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D012098:Reproduction; D012737:Sex Factors