Life starts with plastic: High occurrence of plastic pieces in fledglings of northern fulmars.

Plastic pollution threatens many organisms around the world. In particular, the northern fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis, is known to ingest high quantities of plastics. Since data are sparse in the Eurasian Arctic, we investigated plastic burdens in the stomachs of fulmar fledglings from Kongsfjorden, S...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Pollution Bulletin
Main Authors: Collard, France, Benjaminsen, Stine C, Herzke, Dorte, Husabø, Eirin, Sagerup, Kjetil, Tulatz, Felix, Gabrielsen, Geir W
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Science 2024
Subjects:
Arctic
Early life stages
FTIR
Fulmarus glacialis
Microplastics
Particle size
Svalbard
Fulmar
Kongsfjord*
Kongsfjorden
Northern Fulmar
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2024.116365
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38608430
Description
Summary:Plastic pollution threatens many organisms around the world. In particular, the northern fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis, is known to ingest high quantities of plastics. Since data are sparse in the Eurasian Arctic, we investigated plastic burdens in the stomachs of fulmar fledglings from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. Fifteen birds were collected and only particles larger than 1 mm were extracted, characterised and analysed with Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy. All birds ingested plastic. In total, 683 plastic particles were found, with an average of 46 ± 40 SD items per bird. The most common shape, colour and polymer were hard fragment, white, and polyethylene, respectively. Microplastics (< 5 mm) were slightly more represented than mesoplastics (> 5 mm). This study confirms high numbers of ingested plastics in fulmar fledglings from Svalbard and suggests that fulmar fledglings may be suitable for temporal monitoring of plastic pollution, avoiding potential biases caused by age composition or breeding state.

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