{"id":117352,"date":"2026-09-11T17:03:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T15:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/publikasjoner\/integument-colouration-in-relation-to-persistent-organic-pollutants-and-body-condition-in-arctic-breeding-black-legged-kittiwakes-rissa-tridactyla\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T17:03:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T15:03:28","slug":"integument-colouration-in-relation-to-persistent-organic-pollutants-and-body-condition-in-arctic-breeding-black-legged-kittiwakes-rissa-tridactyla","status":"publish","type":"nva_publication","link":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/publications\/integument-colouration-in-relation-to-persistent-organic-pollutants-and-body-condition-in-arctic-breeding-black-legged-kittiwakes-rissa-tridactyla\/","title":{"rendered":"Integument colouration in relation to persistent organic pollutants and body condition in arctic breeding black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vertebrates cannot synthetize carotenoids de novo but have to acquire themthrough their diet. In birds, carotenoids<br \/>\nare responsible for the yellow to red colouration of many secondary sexual traits. They are also involved in physiological functions such as immunostimulation and immunoregulation. Consequently, carotenoid-based colouration is very often considered as a reliable signal for health and foraging abilities. Although a few studies have suggested that<br \/>\ncarotenoid-based coloured traits could be sensitive to environmental pollution such as persistent organic pollutants<br \/>\n(POPs) contamination, the relationships between pollutants and colouration remain unclear.Here, we examined the<br \/>\nrelationships between the colouration of carotenoid-based integuments and individual POP levels in pre-laying female<br \/>\nblack-legged kittiwakes from very high latitudes. In this area, these arctic seabirds are exposed to high POPs<br \/>\ncontamination. Additionally,we investigated the relationships between colouration and body condition, a frequently<br \/>\nused index of individual quality.We found a negative relationship between POP levels and several components of<br \/>\nintegument colouration: saturation of eye-ring, gapes and tongue, suggesting that POPs could disrupt colouration of<br \/>\nlabile integuments in female kittiwakes. In addition,we found that females in better body condition displayedmore<br \/>\norange and brighter gapes and tongue than females in poor body condition. These results demonstrate that hue and<br \/>\nbrightness are sensitive to the current health and nutritional status of female kittiwakes. Overall, our study shows<br \/>\nthat carotenoid-based colour integuments can be affected by several environmental-driven variables.<br \/>\n\u00a9 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.<br \/>\nArctic<br \/>\nSeabird<br \/>\nCarotenoid<br \/>\nContamination<br \/>\nPesticide<br \/>\nPCB<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","_id":"","_status":"PUBLISHED","_sync_date":"2026-09-11 14:36:30","footnotes":""},"nva_tax_category":[1099],"class_list":["post-117352","nva_publication","type-nva_publication","status-publish","hentry","nva_tax_category-scientific-journal-publication"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nva_publication\/117352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nva_publication"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/nva_publication"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nva_publication\/117352\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"nva_tax_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nva_tax_category?post=117352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}