Risk-taking behavior related to mercury contamination in a high Arctic seabird

Understanding how animal personality traits are modified by environmental stressors, including chemical contaminants, is of increasing importance given rapid anthropogenic environmental change. In this context, we explored whether mercury (Hg) contamination is associated with neophobia and risk-taking behavior in little auks (or dovekies, Alle alle), an Arctic seabird facing altered Hg exposure due to climate change. To quantify parental risk-taking and neophobia behavior, we presented novel objects of different colors at little auks nests at Hornsund, Svalbard. We quantified latency of birds to enter the nest with food under control conditions and when confronted with novel objects. We related behavior to blood Hg and baseline corticosterone (CORT), as CORT might be modulated by Hg and affect behavioral stress responsiveness. We also determined repeatability and asked whether birds investing highly in reproduction displayed reduced neophobia. Little auks displayed neophobia, with laten..., Novel object presentation experiments, designed to test neophobia responses, were performed at little auk nests commencing when chicks were ~8-10 days old, at the height of the chick provisioning period. Experiments consisted of two different types of sessions, control and novel object sessions. During control sessions, we set up JVC video cameras ~5 meters from nests. Cameras could have been perceived as a novel object. However, to reduce this possibility cameras and tripods were black, a color present in the environment. Furthermore, cameras were set up far enough from the nest that birds could avoid immediate proximity to them when approaching the nest entrance. The camera tripods were also set up in the field long before the onset of the experiment. We preceded to record behavior using 1-sec timelapse mode, which compressed 72 hrs of continuous recording into 3 hrs, and facilitated conservation of memory space. Control sessions allowed us to assess bird behavior at nests in the abse..., , # Risk-taking behavior related to mercury contamination in an Arctic seabird

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m905qfv7z](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.m905qfv7z)

In this study, we investigated neophobia and parental risk-taking behavior in little auks (*Alle alle*) breeding at Hornsund, Spitsbergen, Svalbard. We assessed whether these behaviors were individually repeatable and explored correlations with mercury (Hg) contamination and baseline corticosterone concentrations. In addition, we linked risk-taking and neophobia behavior to time activity budgets (TABs) and daily energy expenditure (DEE) derived from accelerometer data, which was derived in the later portion of the nestling period, after neophobia experiments were completed. Our results suggest a correlation between Hg contamination and parental risk-taking, but not neophobia or habituation behaviors. These findings call for more work regarding the behavioral effects of Hg contamination in animals at high Hg contamination risk.
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