Plastic ingestion by the northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard
The Svalbard archipelago is polluted by plastic coming from different sources. Those sources, both local and distant, release high amounts of plastics which may then be ingested by local fauna. The northern fulmar Fulmarus glacialis (hereafter fulmar) is one of the few species studied in the frame o...
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ftorbi:oai:orbi.ulg.ac.be:2268/295849 2024-04-21T08:02:14+00:00 Plastic ingestion by the northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard Collard, France Felix Tulatz, Geir W. Gabrielsen, Dorte Herzke, Rupert Krapp, Magdalene Langset, Sophie Bourgeon 2021-11 https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/295849 en eng https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/295849 info:hdl:2268/295849 restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Svalbard Science Conference, Oslo, Norway [NO], 2 & 3 November 2021 Fulmar Microplastic Arctic Svalbard Fledgling Plastic ingestion Life sciences Environmental sciences & ecology Sciences du vivant Sciences de l’environnement & écologie conference poster not in proceedings http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_18co info:eu-repo/semantics/conferencePoster 2021 ftorbi 2024-03-27T14:57:31Z The Svalbard archipelago is polluted by plastic coming from different sources. Those sources, both local and distant, release high amounts of plastics which may then be ingested by local fauna. The northern fulmar Fulmarus glacialis (hereafter fulmar) is one of the few species studied in the frame of plastic pollution in Svalbard. The fulmar is an OSPAR species used for biomonitoring of plastic pollution in the North Sea and is well studied in the Arctic. However, data are lacking in some regions (including Svalbard) and for some life stages. The objectives of this study were to investigate the plastics ingested by fulmars collected in Kongsfjorden among two age categories: adults and fledglings (~50 days old) investigated for the first time for the purpose of plastic pollution. Almost all birds (95%) had at least one piece of plastic in their stomach. On average, 36 pieces and 0.21 gram of plastic were found per bird but the highest number was 381 pieces in a single fledgling. Polyethylene and fragment were the most common polymer and shape, respectively, across both life stages. Half of the birds (46%) exceeded the limit set by OSPAR (0.1 g of plastic) and fledglings showed significant higher number and mass than adults. The reported values are higher than previous data collected in 2015 in fulmars from Isfjorden that reporded 15.3 pieces and 0.08 g per individual, and 22.5% of birds above the OSPAR limit. Our results therefore do not support the hypothesis of a lesser plastic exposure to fulmars in the northern part of the Arctic. We also showed that all the fledglings sampled had ingested plastic pieces, often in high numbers, and could therefore suffer from both mechanical (stomach obstruction) and toxicological (pollutant leaching) negative impacts. Conference Object Fulmarus glacialis Isfjord* Isfjorden Kongsfjord* Kongsfjorden Northern Fulmar Svalbard University of Liège: ORBi (Open Repository and Bibliography) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Liège: ORBi (Open Repository and Bibliography) |
op_collection_id |
ftorbi |
language |
English |
topic |
Fulmar Microplastic Arctic Svalbard Fledgling Plastic ingestion Life sciences Environmental sciences & ecology Sciences du vivant Sciences de l’environnement & écologie |
spellingShingle |
Fulmar Microplastic Arctic Svalbard Fledgling Plastic ingestion Life sciences Environmental sciences & ecology Sciences du vivant Sciences de l’environnement & écologie Collard, France Felix Tulatz, Geir W. Gabrielsen, Dorte Herzke, Rupert Krapp, Magdalene Langset, Sophie Bourgeon Plastic ingestion by the northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard |
topic_facet |
Fulmar Microplastic Arctic Svalbard Fledgling Plastic ingestion Life sciences Environmental sciences & ecology Sciences du vivant Sciences de l’environnement & écologie |
description |
The Svalbard archipelago is polluted by plastic coming from different sources. Those sources, both local and distant, release high amounts of plastics which may then be ingested by local fauna. The northern fulmar Fulmarus glacialis (hereafter fulmar) is one of the few species studied in the frame of plastic pollution in Svalbard. The fulmar is an OSPAR species used for biomonitoring of plastic pollution in the North Sea and is well studied in the Arctic. However, data are lacking in some regions (including Svalbard) and for some life stages. The objectives of this study were to investigate the plastics ingested by fulmars collected in Kongsfjorden among two age categories: adults and fledglings (~50 days old) investigated for the first time for the purpose of plastic pollution. Almost all birds (95%) had at least one piece of plastic in their stomach. On average, 36 pieces and 0.21 gram of plastic were found per bird but the highest number was 381 pieces in a single fledgling. Polyethylene and fragment were the most common polymer and shape, respectively, across both life stages. Half of the birds (46%) exceeded the limit set by OSPAR (0.1 g of plastic) and fledglings showed significant higher number and mass than adults. The reported values are higher than previous data collected in 2015 in fulmars from Isfjorden that reporded 15.3 pieces and 0.08 g per individual, and 22.5% of birds above the OSPAR limit. Our results therefore do not support the hypothesis of a lesser plastic exposure to fulmars in the northern part of the Arctic. We also showed that all the fledglings sampled had ingested plastic pieces, often in high numbers, and could therefore suffer from both mechanical (stomach obstruction) and toxicological (pollutant leaching) negative impacts. |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Collard, France Felix Tulatz, Geir W. Gabrielsen, Dorte Herzke, Rupert Krapp, Magdalene Langset, Sophie Bourgeon |
author_facet |
Collard, France Felix Tulatz, Geir W. Gabrielsen, Dorte Herzke, Rupert Krapp, Magdalene Langset, Sophie Bourgeon |
author_sort |
Collard, France |
title |
Plastic ingestion by the northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard |
title_short |
Plastic ingestion by the northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard |
title_full |
Plastic ingestion by the northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Plastic ingestion by the northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Plastic ingestion by the northern fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard |
title_sort |
plastic ingestion by the northern fulmar (fulmarus glacialis) from kongsfjorden, svalbard |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/295849 |
genre |
Fulmarus glacialis Isfjord* Isfjorden Kongsfjord* Kongsfjorden Northern Fulmar Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Fulmarus glacialis Isfjord* Isfjorden Kongsfjord* Kongsfjorden Northern Fulmar Svalbard |
op_source |
Svalbard Science Conference, Oslo, Norway [NO], 2 & 3 November 2021 |
op_relation |
https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/295849 info:hdl:2268/295849 |
op_rights |
restricted access http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
_version_ |
1796942438140477440 |