Journal
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
Volume 112, Issue 1-2, Pages 117-122Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.08.031
Keywords
Ingestion; Plastics; Pellets; Biological monitoring
Funding
- Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) [UID/MAR/04292/2013, PTDC/MAR-PRO/0929/2014]
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Marine plastic pollution is rapidly growing and is a source of major concern. Seabirds often ingest plastic debris and are increasingly used as biological monitors of plastic pollution. However, virtually no studies have assessed plastics in seabirds in the deep subtropical North Atlantic. We investigated whether remains of white-faced storm-petrels (WFSP) present in gull pellets could be used for biomonitoring. We analysed 263 pellets and 79.0% of these contained, plastic debris originating in the digestive tract of WFSP. Pellets with no bird prey did not contain plastics. Most debris were fragments (83.6%) with fewer plastic pellets (8.2%). Light-coloured plastics predominated (71.0%) and the most frequent polymer was HDPE (73.0%). Stable isotopes in toe-nails of WFSP containing many versus no plastics did not differ, indicating no individual specialisation leading to differential plastic ingestion. We suggest WFSP in pellets are highly suitable to monitor the little known pelagic subtropical Northeast Atlantic. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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