Drivers of litter ingestion by sea turtles: Three decades of empirical data collected in Atlantic Europe and the Mediterranean

• Published in: Marine Pollution Bulletin
• Main Authors: Darmon, Gaëlle, Schulz, Marcus, Matiddi, Marco, Loza, Ana Liria, Tomás, Jesús, Camedda, Andrea, Chaieb, Olfa, El Hili, Hedia, Bradai, Mohamed, Bray, Laura, Claro, Françoise, Dellinger, Thomas, Dell'Amico, Florence, de Lucia, Giuseppe, Duncan, Emily, Gambaiani, Delphine, Godley, Brendan, Kaberi, Helen, Kaska, Yakup, Martin, Jessica, Moreira, Cláudia, Ostiategui, Patricia, Pham, Christopher, Piermarini, Raffaella, Revuelta, Ohiana, Rodríguez, Yasmina, Silvestri, Cecilia, Snape, Robin, Sozbilen, Dogăn, Tsangaris, Catherine, Vale, Maria, Vandeperre, Frederic, Miaud, Claude
• Other Authors: Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD France-Sud )-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut Agro - Montpellier SupAgro, Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro)-Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (Institut Agro), Patrimoine naturel (PatriNat), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Office français de la biodiversité (OFB)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2022
• Subjects: Marine litter impacts; Bio-indicator; Standard monitoring; Body condition; Health assessment; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; North East Atlantic
• Online Access: https://mnhn.hal.science/mnhn-04168420; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2022.114364

International audience Sea turtles are considered as bio-indicators for monitoring the efficiency of restoration measures to reduce marine litter impacts on health. However, the lack of extended and standardised empirical data has prevented the accurate analysis of the factors influencing litter ingestion and the relationships with individual health. Historic data collected from 1988 and standard data collected from 2016 were harmonised to enable such analyses on necropsied loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) in eight Mediterranean and North-East Atlantic countries. Litter was found in 69.24 % of the 1121 individuals, mostly single-use and fishing-related plastics. Spatial location, sex and life history stage explained a minor part of litter ingestion. While no relationships with health could be detected, indicating that all individuals can be integrated as bio-indicators, the mechanistic models published in literature suggest that the high proportion of plastics in the digestive contents (38.77 % per individual) could have long-term repercussions on population dynamics.