Flying sentinels: using a long-distance migratory bird to assess exposure to POPs over two continents and their health consequences

人类活动对自然环境中持久性有机污染物的引入产生了副作用。不幸的是，持久性有机污染物可以随着时间的推移在生态系统内进行生物积累和生物放大，从而产生改变这些生态系统内顶级捕食者的健康、繁殖和生存的后果。如今，我们对持久性有机污染物的了解主要基于对实验动物体内持久性有机污染物毒性影响的测试研究，以及《关于持久性有机污染物的斯德哥尔摩公约》成员国每年提供一份有毒物质释放清单的法律义务。虽然它提供了关于风险暴露的宝贵信息，但要了解在自由生活的动物中持久性有机污染物的实际暴露和后果，仍有许多工作要做。高营养鸟类被认为是接触持久性有机污染物最多的物种，因此它们经常被用作哨兵。然而，鸟类可以飞行很长的距离，而且由于持久性有机污染物的释放在空间和介质（即土壤、水、空气）上有很大差异，因此，在旨在了解持久性有机污染物的实际暴露时，第一个挑战是不仅要能够追踪个体，还要能够模拟持久性有机污染物在环境系统中的命运。此外，由于持久性有机污染物随着时间的推移而生物积累，而顶级捕食者也在同一时期获得了繁殖经验，因此，在旨在揭示野外持久性有机污染物的负面影响时，第二个挑战是能够控制年龄和经验的隐藏效应。这个博士项目旨在利用一种长寿的长途候鸟——高山雨燕来应对这两个挑战，在那里你可以获得个体层面的详细信息(i)使用跟踪设备进行全年运动，（ii）通过组织样本的气相色谱-质谱测量获得持久性有机污染物的污染，以及（iii）实际年龄和健康状况，因为所研究的种群已经被监测了20多年。您将应用逸度模型来了解持久性有机污染物在环境系统中的转移，并获得有关鸟类何时何地接触持久性有机污染物的原始见解，您将使用混合模型和路径分析来阐明污染和老化在影响野外繁殖和生存方面的重要性。这个跨环境地球科学和保护生物学的跨学科博士项目将为学生提供一个独特的机会，让他们学习环境建模、运动生态学、动物生理学和保护生物学的各种重要方法，并参与实地工作。该学生将加入QUADRAT博士培训合作伙伴关系，该合作伙伴关系汇集了阿伯丁大学（UoA）和贝尔法斯特女王大学（QUB）在生物科学和地球科学方面的卓越研究和教学中心，该合作伙伴关系旨在为学生提供领导所需的技能、前景、目标和整体理解。沟通和翻译创新的跨学科研究，以满足未来在有效管理自然环境方面的挑战。该项目将以UoA（70%）和QUB（30%）为基础，学生将受益于与动物生态学，保护和环境科学领域的研究生，博士后和教师的蓬勃发展社区的互动。

Human activities have for side effects the introduction in natural environments of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Unfortunately, POPs can bioaccumulate over time and biomagnify within ecosystems, and thus have for consequences to alter the health, reproduction and survival of top predators within those ecosystems. Nowadays, our knowledge of POPs is primarily based on studies testing the toxic effects of POPs in laboratory animals and on the legal obligation from member countries of the Stockholm convention on POPs to provide an annual toxics release inventory. Although it provides invaluable information on risk exposure, much remains to be done to understand realized exposure and consequences of POPs in free living animals.High trophic bird species are expected to be the most exposed to POPs, and therefore they are often used as sentinels. Birds can however travel over very long-distances and, since the release of POPs greatly differ over space and medium (i.e. soil, water, air), a first challenge when aiming to understand realized exposure to POPs is to be able not only to track down individuals but also to model the fate of POPs in environmental systems. Furthermore, because POPs bioaccumulate over time and top predators are also gaining breeding experience over the same time period, a second challenge when aiming to uncover the negative of POPs in the wild is to be able to control for concealing effects of age and experience. This PhD project aims to undertake those two challenges using a long-lived and long-distance migratory bird species, the Alpine swift, where you will have access to detailed information at the individual level on (i) year-round movements thought the use of tracking devices, (ii) contamination by POPs through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry measures of tissue samples, and (iii) chronological age and fitness since the populations under study have been monitored for more than two decades. You will be applying fugacity models to understand transfer of POPs in environmental systems and to get original insights on where and when birds become exposed to POPs, and you will be using mixed-model and path analyses to shed new light on the importance of pollution and ageing in shaping reproduction and survival in the wild. This inter-disciplinary PhD project across environmental geosciences and conservation biology will offer a unique opportunity for the student to learn a variety of important methods in environmental modelling, movement ecology, animal physiology and conservation biology, and to participate in the field work. This student will be joining the QUADRAT Doctoral Training Partnership that brings together research and teaching centres of excellence in biological science and geoscience from the University of Aberdeen (UoA) and Queen's University Belfast (QUB), and that has for vision to equip students with the skills, outlook, purpose and holistic understanding to lead, communicate and translate innovative cross-disciplinary research to meet tomorrow's challenges in effective management of the natural environment. The project will be based at UoA (70%) and QUB (30%) where the student will benefit from interaction with a thriving community of postgraduate students, postdocs, and faculty in animal ecology and conservation and environmental sciences.