Research Manrico Sebastiano

Abstract

Infectious disease outbreaks can cause massive mortality episodes in both wild and domestic animals. Yet, the mechanisms through which environmental sources of stress underlie such outbreaks remain poorly investigated. Because they are situated high in food webs and aggregate at high densities, seabirds represent excellent study species as they accumulate large amounts of mercury and suffer changes in food availability. In this project, I plan to use an experimental approach to investigate, for the first time, whether mercury exposure, nutritional stress, or their potential combined effect i) promote disease occurrence; ii) disrupt key physiological pathways; and iii) impact on parental care provisioning during the chick-rearing period. I will combine the collection of correlational and experimental data using a population of Magnificent frigatebirds breeding in French Guiana as main model species. This population is exposed to both high mercury levels and to nutritional stress, and it is subjected to massive mortality episodes of chicks likely associated with a herpesvirus infection, offering an unprecedented opportunity to address the above-mentioned research gaps. Never has it been more crucial to understand the potential connection between exposure to environmental stressors and viral disease occurrence in wildlife, as it represents a long-term threat for marine top-predators and biodiversity worldwide, and has been never been investigated experimentally in the wild.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Eens Marcel
• Co-promoter: Sebastiano Manrico
• Fellow: Hernández González Miguel

Research team(s)

• Behavioural Ecology & Ecophysiology

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Mercury emission into the environment represents a globally relevant issue. The increased methylation rate of mercury due to global warming, and the projections suggesting that the amount of mercury in fish may double by 2050 jeopardize the future of top-predators worldwide. Now more than ever, we need to understand how exposure to mercury contamination affects life history traits of wildlife. I aim to investigate for the first time the consequences of mercury exposure on susceptibility to viral diseases. Specifically, the project aims to assess to which extent mercury exposure: i) causes physiological dysfunction and facilitates the manifestation of the disease; ii) accelerates telomere shortening during the viral disease; and iii) causes parental hormone displacement. The existing high levels of mercury and the annual viral outbreaks that cause the mortality of a large proportion of chicks of Magnificent frigatebirds at the study site (a small island in French Guiana) exploit an unprecedented opportunity to investigate a topic that remains largely unexplored. Not only will I combine the collection of longitudinal (within-individual variation over time) with experimental data, but I will benefit from hundreds of blood samples that I collected previously. The project has an extra value in terms of conservation because it will be carried out on a colony of frigatebirds that is considered one of the most important of South America.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Eens Marcel
• Fellow: Sebastiano Manrico

Research team(s)

• Behavioural Ecology & Ecophysiology

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Mercury emission into the environment represents a globally relevant issue. The increased methylation rate of mercury due to global warming, and the projections suggesting that the amount of mercury in fish may double by 2050 jeopardize the future of top-predators worldwide. Now more than ever, we need to understand how exposure to mercury contamination affects life history traits of wildlife. I aim to investigate for the first time the consequences of mercury exposure on susceptibility to viral diseases. Specifically, the project aims to assess to which extent mercury exposure: i) causes physiological dysfunction and facilitates the manifestation of the disease; ii) accelerates telomere shortening during the viral disease; and iii) causes parental hormone displacement. The existing high levels of mercury and the annual viral outbreaks that cause the mortality of a large proportion of chicks of Magnificent frigatebirds at the study site (a small island in French Guiana) exploit an unprecedented opportunity to investigate a topic that remains largely unexplored. Not only will I combine the collection of longitudinal (within-individual variation over time) with experimental data, but I will benefit from hundreds of blood samples that I collected previously. The project has an extra value in terms of conservation because it will be carried out on a colony of frigatebirds that is considered one of the most important of South America.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Sebastiano Manrico

Research team(s)

• Behavioural Ecology & Ecophysiology

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In this project, I therefore plan to investigate for the first time the relationships among environmental changes, stress hormones (corticosterone), oxidative stress, immune cell counts and herpes virus infections, using nestling Magnificent frigatebirds living on the Ile du Grand Connétable as my model system.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Eens Marcel
• Co-promoter: Costantini David
• Fellow: Sebastiano Manrico

Research team(s)

• Behavioural Ecology & Ecophysiology

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In this project, I therefore plan to investigate for the first time the relationships among environmental changes, stress hormones (corticosterone), oxidative stress, immune cell counts and herpes virus infections, using nestling Magnificent frigatebirds living on the Ile du Grand Connétable as my model system.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Eens Marcel
• Co-promoter: Costantini David
• Fellow: Sebastiano Manrico

Research team(s)

• Behavioural Ecology & Ecophysiology

Project type(s)

• Research Project