Seabirds, gyres and global trends in plastic pollution
Fulmars are effective biological indicators of the abundance of floating plastic marine debris. Long-term data reveal high plastic abundance in the southern North Sea, gradually decreasing to the north at increasing distance from population centres, with lowest levels in high-arctic waters. Since th...
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Online Access: | https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/seabirds-gyres-and-global-trends-in-plastic-pollution https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.02.034 |
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ftunivwagenin:oai:library.wur.nl:wurpubs/488065 2024-01-14T10:04:39+01:00 Seabirds, gyres and global trends in plastic pollution van Franeker, J.A. Law, K.L. 2015 application/pdf https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/seabirds-gyres-and-global-trends-in-plastic-pollution https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.02.034 en eng https://edepot.wur.nl/342013 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/seabirds-gyres-and-global-trends-in-plastic-pollution doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2015.02.034 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Wageningen University & Research Environmental Pollution 203 (2015) ISSN: 0269-7491 debris fulmars fulmarus-glacialis ingestion marine-environment northern fulmars ocean particle pollution sea south-atlantic surface waters info:eu-repo/semantics/article Article/Letter to editor info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2015 ftunivwagenin https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.02.034 2023-12-20T23:17:59Z Fulmars are effective biological indicators of the abundance of floating plastic marine debris. Long-term data reveal high plastic abundance in the southern North Sea, gradually decreasing to the north at increasing distance from population centres, with lowest levels in high-arctic waters. Since the 1980s, pre-production plastic pellets in North Sea fulmars have decreased by ~75%, while user plastics varied without a strong overall change. Similar trends were found in net-collected floating plastic debris in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre, with a ~75% decrease in plastic pellets and no obvious trend in user plastic. The decreases in pellets suggest that changes in litter input are rapidly visible in the environment not only close to presumed sources, but also far from land. Floating plastic debris is rapidly “lost” from the ocean surface to other as-yet undetermined sinks in the marine environment. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Fulmarus glacialis North Atlantic Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library Arctic Environmental Pollution 203 89 96 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library |
op_collection_id |
ftunivwagenin |
language |
English |
topic |
debris fulmars fulmarus-glacialis ingestion marine-environment northern fulmars ocean particle pollution sea south-atlantic surface waters |
spellingShingle |
debris fulmars fulmarus-glacialis ingestion marine-environment northern fulmars ocean particle pollution sea south-atlantic surface waters van Franeker, J.A. Law, K.L. Seabirds, gyres and global trends in plastic pollution |
topic_facet |
debris fulmars fulmarus-glacialis ingestion marine-environment northern fulmars ocean particle pollution sea south-atlantic surface waters |
description |
Fulmars are effective biological indicators of the abundance of floating plastic marine debris. Long-term data reveal high plastic abundance in the southern North Sea, gradually decreasing to the north at increasing distance from population centres, with lowest levels in high-arctic waters. Since the 1980s, pre-production plastic pellets in North Sea fulmars have decreased by ~75%, while user plastics varied without a strong overall change. Similar trends were found in net-collected floating plastic debris in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre, with a ~75% decrease in plastic pellets and no obvious trend in user plastic. The decreases in pellets suggest that changes in litter input are rapidly visible in the environment not only close to presumed sources, but also far from land. Floating plastic debris is rapidly “lost” from the ocean surface to other as-yet undetermined sinks in the marine environment. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
van Franeker, J.A. Law, K.L. |
author_facet |
van Franeker, J.A. Law, K.L. |
author_sort |
van Franeker, J.A. |
title |
Seabirds, gyres and global trends in plastic pollution |
title_short |
Seabirds, gyres and global trends in plastic pollution |
title_full |
Seabirds, gyres and global trends in plastic pollution |
title_fullStr |
Seabirds, gyres and global trends in plastic pollution |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seabirds, gyres and global trends in plastic pollution |
title_sort |
seabirds, gyres and global trends in plastic pollution |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/seabirds-gyres-and-global-trends-in-plastic-pollution https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.02.034 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Fulmarus glacialis North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Arctic Fulmarus glacialis North Atlantic |
op_source |
Environmental Pollution 203 (2015) ISSN: 0269-7491 |
op_relation |
https://edepot.wur.nl/342013 https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/seabirds-gyres-and-global-trends-in-plastic-pollution doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2015.02.034 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Wageningen University & Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.02.034 |
container_title |
Environmental Pollution |
container_volume |
203 |
container_start_page |
89 |
op_container_end_page |
96 |
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1788059138329149440 |