Measurement of chemical emissions in crested auklets (Aethia cristatella)

This report presents the first quantitative estimates of emission rates for chemical signals in a bird-the crested auklet (Aethia cristatella). Volatile emissions from live birds were captured in a purified airstream onto polymer traps. Traps were eluted with methanol and analyzed with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The volatile collection chamber was field-calibrated with an in-line bubbler and synthetic octanal, the dominant constituent of the crested auklet's citruslike odor. The result is an index of volatile chemical emissions within a small population of wild crested auklets at Big Koniuji Island, AK, USA. The average emission rate for octanal was 5.7 micro l/50 min. Males and females did not differ in their emission rates (t ((0.05)two-tailed) = 0.44, P = 0.66). There was a sevenfold difference between minimum and maximum emission rates. Prevalence of tick infection (2%) was low despite the high abundance of ticks in the colony. The crested auklet with the lowest chemical emission rate was heavily parasitized by ticks.