Microplastics in full view: Birds as bioindicators of Malta's coastal ecosystem health
Plastic pollution has recently become a widely studied topic, yet research on microplastics has remained lacking for specific geographic regions. Microplastics are small plastics resulting from degradation or the dumping of raw material and can lead to deleterious impacts on the coastal marine envir...
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ftjamesmadisonun:oai:commons.lib.jmu.edu:master201019-1616 2023-06-18T03:42:17+02:00 Microplastics in full view: Birds as bioindicators of Malta's coastal ecosystem health Brauer, Dalton Louis F. Cassar John J. Borg Maria C. Papadakis 2018-12-14T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/628 https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/context/master201019/article/1616/viewcontent/Dalton_Brauer.pdf unknown JMU Scholarly Commons https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/628 https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/context/master201019/article/1616/viewcontent/Dalton_Brauer.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Masters Theses, 2010-2019 microplastics waterbirds bioindicators Malta Descriptor 10 Northern Fulmar Animal Experimentation and Research Biodiversity Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Environmental Law Environmental Policy Environmental Studies Marine Biology Ornithology thesis 2018 ftjamesmadisonun 2023-06-04T20:33:09Z Plastic pollution has recently become a widely studied topic, yet research on microplastics has remained lacking for specific geographic regions. Microplastics are small plastics resulting from degradation or the dumping of raw material and can lead to deleterious impacts on the coastal marine environment and its organisms. To assess Malta’s coastal environmental health, water birds (inshore, offshore and pelagic species) were used as bioindicators by assessing the presence and abundance of plastic within their stomach contents. The project hoped to fill some of the current gaps in knowledge on microplastics within Malta by creating a working baseline, as well as develop a standardization for methodology built off of previous seabird plastic ingestion research. Microplastic incidence, abundance by number, and abundance by mass were measured across four different groupings, total seabirds sampled, age, sex, and foraging type. Microplastics were found in 51% of the total seabirds sampled with an average mass of 0.040 grams of plastic found within all seabirds. The deviation from the threshold of 0.1 grams of plastic for 10% of seabirds sampled created in the Northern Fulmar report, this report proposes a new threshold of 0.05 grams of plastic for 10% of seabirds for this region. This measurement along with the data provided will serve as an indicator for Good Environmental Status for Descriptor 10 within the mandates for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Thesis Northern Fulmar JMU Scholarly Commons (James Madison University) Fulmar ENVELOPE(-46.016,-46.016,-60.616,-60.616) |
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Open Polar |
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JMU Scholarly Commons (James Madison University) |
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ftjamesmadisonun |
language |
unknown |
topic |
microplastics waterbirds bioindicators Malta Descriptor 10 Northern Fulmar Animal Experimentation and Research Biodiversity Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Environmental Law Environmental Policy Environmental Studies Marine Biology Ornithology |
spellingShingle |
microplastics waterbirds bioindicators Malta Descriptor 10 Northern Fulmar Animal Experimentation and Research Biodiversity Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Environmental Law Environmental Policy Environmental Studies Marine Biology Ornithology Brauer, Dalton Microplastics in full view: Birds as bioindicators of Malta's coastal ecosystem health |
topic_facet |
microplastics waterbirds bioindicators Malta Descriptor 10 Northern Fulmar Animal Experimentation and Research Biodiversity Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Environmental Law Environmental Policy Environmental Studies Marine Biology Ornithology |
description |
Plastic pollution has recently become a widely studied topic, yet research on microplastics has remained lacking for specific geographic regions. Microplastics are small plastics resulting from degradation or the dumping of raw material and can lead to deleterious impacts on the coastal marine environment and its organisms. To assess Malta’s coastal environmental health, water birds (inshore, offshore and pelagic species) were used as bioindicators by assessing the presence and abundance of plastic within their stomach contents. The project hoped to fill some of the current gaps in knowledge on microplastics within Malta by creating a working baseline, as well as develop a standardization for methodology built off of previous seabird plastic ingestion research. Microplastic incidence, abundance by number, and abundance by mass were measured across four different groupings, total seabirds sampled, age, sex, and foraging type. Microplastics were found in 51% of the total seabirds sampled with an average mass of 0.040 grams of plastic found within all seabirds. The deviation from the threshold of 0.1 grams of plastic for 10% of seabirds sampled created in the Northern Fulmar report, this report proposes a new threshold of 0.05 grams of plastic for 10% of seabirds for this region. This measurement along with the data provided will serve as an indicator for Good Environmental Status for Descriptor 10 within the mandates for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. |
author2 |
Louis F. Cassar John J. Borg Maria C. Papadakis |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Brauer, Dalton |
author_facet |
Brauer, Dalton |
author_sort |
Brauer, Dalton |
title |
Microplastics in full view: Birds as bioindicators of Malta's coastal ecosystem health |
title_short |
Microplastics in full view: Birds as bioindicators of Malta's coastal ecosystem health |
title_full |
Microplastics in full view: Birds as bioindicators of Malta's coastal ecosystem health |
title_fullStr |
Microplastics in full view: Birds as bioindicators of Malta's coastal ecosystem health |
title_full_unstemmed |
Microplastics in full view: Birds as bioindicators of Malta's coastal ecosystem health |
title_sort |
microplastics in full view: birds as bioindicators of malta's coastal ecosystem health |
publisher |
JMU Scholarly Commons |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/628 https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/context/master201019/article/1616/viewcontent/Dalton_Brauer.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-46.016,-46.016,-60.616,-60.616) |
geographic |
Fulmar |
geographic_facet |
Fulmar |
genre |
Northern Fulmar |
genre_facet |
Northern Fulmar |
op_source |
Masters Theses, 2010-2019 |
op_relation |
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/628 https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/context/master201019/article/1616/viewcontent/Dalton_Brauer.pdf |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
_version_ |
1769008169367896064 |