Alice Carravieri

My research focuses on the drivers and health effects of contaminant bioaccumulation in wildlife, spanning ecotoxicology, trophic ecology and ecophysiology, with a focus on the marine environment. I mainly target mercury, other trace elements, and organic chemicals (e.g., organochlorines, PFAS) in marine predators, particularly seabirds. I study the influence of trophic ecology on contaminant exposure through the stable isotope technique (bulk and compound-specific analyses, mainly using blood and feathers) at the individual, population and community levels. In addition, by using biologging techniques over the short (GPS) and long term (GLS), I aim to characterise contaminant exposure across breeding and nonbreeding grounds. By using cross-sectional and longitudinal monitoring of individuals, I investigate the effect of traits such as sex, age and physiology (e.g., body condition, fasting) on contaminant toxicokinetics (e.g., bioaccumulation, excretion). I am also interested in the health effects of chemical contamination on marine predators in a multistressor context, inferred from different parameters (blood biomarkers, energetics). I have recently expanded my research interests to environmental parasitology, aiming to disentangle the potential benefits and costs of helminth infection on contaminant toxicokinetics and health effects.