**Abstract:**

Arctic seabirds evolved physiological and morphological adaptation to cold that increases heat production and reduces heat loss. Yet such adaptation might expose them to increased mortality risk from heat stress in a rapidly warming Arctic. When ambient air temperature exceeds the upper critical limit of the thermoneutral zone of an individual, evaporative water loss must increase to dissipate heat and to avoid lethally high body temperatures. At the same time, endogenous heat production also increases as more active forms of evaporative water loss (i.e. gular fluttering) are employed to dissipate heat. If environmental temperatures remain elevated above thermoneutrality, the cycle of increased water loss and heat production can quickly lead to dehydration and hyperthermia. In the present study, we used temperature-controlled respirometry and biotelemetry to link the thermal sensitivity of energy expenditure, water loss and body temperature with behavioural responses to environmental temperature in 50 little auks (Alle alle) from East Greenland. These measurements performed across a wide temperature range (5 to 32°C) allowed us to examine how the magnitude and frequency of heat stress events impact the most abundant seabird in the Arctic. Little auks showed a remarkable capacity to cope with air temperatures 25°C above current maximum temperatures when at rest. Yet individuals may need to reduce activity levels to avoid hyperthermia on warmer days, which could reduce foraging effort, parental care, social activities and predator avoidance. Our study highlights a need to understand the ecological consequences of thermoregulatory constraints on the behaviour and survival of cold-adapted seabirds. Little auks are ecosystem engineers that facilitate an enormous transfer of nutrients from marine to terrestrial ecosystems. Hence, physiological constraints on the behaviour of little auks may have flow on effects for entire marine and terrestrial food webs in the Arctic.

**Authors:**

Julian Beaman¹, Craig White¹, Manon Clairbaux², Samuel Perret², Jérôme Fort³, David Grémillet²

¹Monash University, ²CNRS ? Université de Montpellier ? Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier ? EPHE, ³CNRS ? Université de La Rochelle

Does physiological adaptation to cold predispose little auks (Alle alle) to increased risk of hyperthermia in a warming Arctic?

**Session Replay:** [Click here](https://zoom.us/rec/share/i0dZEeIDb0KwKKpthMfhGMvU6AGSpw6jpAHIPOElkiXcHet95oyZJfufjc7etGf3.s1DaihH7Us__OD-G?startTime=1633470434000/)<br><br>

<i>**Session Chair: **Ruth Dunn</i><br><br> 
**Session Description:**<br>Recent assessments of species and ecosystem responses to environmental change have highlighted an urgent need to better understand the mechanistic links between the patterns of change, individual responses, and population processes. Without this link our ability to assess the vulnerability of seabird populations to environmental stressors, such as contaminants, disease, overfishing and re-organization of trophic food webs, and to establish effective management programs is severely limited. Conservation physiology is a rapidly growing field, and there is considerable scope to apply its recent developments to seabird conservation issues. The 21st century has seen the development of new metabolic, endocrine and molecular approaches that allow detailed quantification of physiological traits in free-living birds, bringing the study of physiology out of the laboratory and into the wild. For example, recent work measuring fine-scale energetics has illustrated how many applied problems in conservation boil down to issues of energy intake or energy output. Endocrine and molecular markers of exposure to stressful events during different stages of the annual cycle provide insight into physiological carry-over effects on patterns of survival and reproduction. Developments in the field of historical ecophysiology allow us to examine individual seabird responses to climate change on a millennial scale. Such approaches have the potential to identify when, where, and why seabird populations are vulnerable before catastrophe strikes, thus vastly improving our conservation efforts. This symposium will focus on the potential of physiology to provide mechanistic answers to applied conservation questions from marine reserve design, to pollution monitoring, to seabirds as indicators of climate change responses.<br>

Symposium 1 - Conservation physiology in seabirds: Understanding mechanisms, causes and consequences in a changing world III

symposium

Welcome Seabirders!  

Welcome to Virtual World Seabird Conference 3 - vWSC3! Whether you are in your office or lab, at home, in a coffee shop or bar poaching some wifi, or at a remote field site or research vessel – we are very excited to welcome you to the third ever World Seabird Conference. 

We would like to thank ALL of you for being so patient as WSC3 was scheduled, postponed, rescheduled, revised to virtual, and scheduled again. Throughout all those iterations there was one message that remained perfectly clear – seabirders were eager to meet and share their science. If we could not meet in person then virtual it would have to be, but a 3rd WSC was something everyone wanted. That support and commitment helped the WSU Board of Directors and Member Societies sort through all of the challenges they faced to plan and hold this conference. 

The list of those that need to be thanked is long and, while we plan on recognizing many during the live closing plenary, it is important to do so here in writing as well. 

The Australasian Seabird Group was our Local Host for our plan to meet in Hobart, Tasmania. They invested substantial time and effort to find venues and plan events that we unfortunately were not able to visit. Nonetheless we appreciate their work on behalf of WSC3 and encourage all of you to thank them when you see their members in Gathertown or elsewhere during our virtual meeting. Their willingness to host created the initial excitement for WSC3 and without that our vWSC would not have been possible.

We also wish to thank the Science Program Committee, the Virtual Committee, and the Early Career Scientist Committee for their hard work planning the logistics, events, and schedule for vWSC3. These committees also had to deal with changing parameters and short timelines that made what is always a challenging task even more challenging. The Travel Awards Committee also invested time and effort in developing procedures for awarding travel funds that ultimately would not be implemented. 

Our ability to shift from an in-person to a virtual meeting, and to do so in a way that would be financially feasible, was due to the effective efforts of The International Fundraising Committee and to our financial sponsors. The IFC raised funds to support WSC3 and then, through the good relationships they built with sponsors, ensured we could re-envision how those funds could be used to support a virtual conference that would be affordable and high-quality.

We all owe the WSU Board of Directors and the Representatives of the Member Societies a great deal of thanks. They are the ones who manage the WSU and, for the past 18 months, have had to have a series of challenging meetings and conversations, have had to make a series of difficult choices, have had to do all of that while considering the short- and long-term health of WSU and the World Seabird Conferences, and did this while also managing their own challenges at their day jobs. We are grateful for their diligence, patience, foresight, and throughout all of the meetings, their collegiality. Also – a 6-year term is quite a commitment!

There would not be a WSC3 without a successful WSC1 and WSC2. Thanks go to the Pacific Seabird Group for their support of WSC1 in Victoria, Canada, and to the African Seabird Group for their support of WSC2 in Cape Town, South Africa. In each of these endeavors and for our current conference we were fortunate to work with a dependable and trustworthy partner in Podium Conferences. Michelle Smith and Marischal de Armond have become valued members of our team and have not only helped us plan conferences but have assisted and advised the WSU Chairs and Board on issues above and beyond conference planning. 

As we embark on our vWSC3 week we extend to all of you our thanks for showing up, for being patient, and most importantly for the work you do with seabirds. We are all part of a unique, global community that shares an interest, a fascination, and a passion for birds that make a living in our world’s oceans. We have advanced the science, conservation, and management of seabirds as well the ecosystems they inhabit. We are consistently impressed and motivated by the work you do. 

The WSU formed in 2010 because we saw the need for a global organization to address challenges at a global level. Over the past 11 years WSU has grown, adapted, and evolved to become the community that this week is making vWSC3 a reality. Enjoy the week, appreciate and support the friends and colleagues you have made in the community, and if you see us in a virtual hallway please stop and say hello! 

Thank you for the opportunity to serve all of you and the WSU over the past few years,

Nicholas Carlile, Interim Chair, WSU<br>
Patrick Jodice, 2nd Chair of the WSU<br><br>

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3rd World Seabird Conference

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Julian Beaman

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Does physiological adaptation to cold predispose little auks (Alle alle) to increased risk of hyperthermia in a warming Arctic?

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