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Seabird breeding islands as sinks for marine plastic debris
Citation
Grant, ML and Lavers, JL and Hutton, I and Bond, AL, Seabird breeding islands as sinks for marine plastic debris, Environmental Pollution, 276 Article 116734. ISSN 0269-7491 (2021) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
DOI: doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116734
Abstract
Seabirds are apex predators in the marine environment and well-known ecosystem engineers, capable of changing their terrestrial habitats by introducing marine-derived nutrients via deposition of guano and other allochthonous inputs. However, with the health of the world’s oceans under threat due to anthropogenic pressures such as organic, inorganic, and physical pollutants, seabirds are depositing these same pollutants wherever they come to land. Using data from 2018 to 2020, we quantify how the Flesh-footed Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes) has inadvertently introduced physical pollutants to their colonies on Lord Howe Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Tasman Sea and their largest breeding colony, through a mix of regurgitated pellet (bolus) deposition and carcasses containing plastic debris. The density of plastics within the shearwater colonies ranged between 1.32 and 3.66 pieces/m2 (mean ± SE: 2.18 ± 0.32), and a total of 688,480 (95% CI: 582,409–800,877) pieces are deposited on the island each year. Our research demonstrates that seabirds are a transfer mechanism for marine-derived plastics, reintroducing items back into the terrestrial environment, thus making seabird colonies a sink for plastic debris. This phenomenon is likely occurring in seabird colonies across the globe and will increase in severity as global plastic production and marine plastic pollution accelerates without adequate mitigation strategies.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | marine debris, plastic pollution, remote island, seabirds, vector |
Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
Research Group: | Ecology |
Research Field: | Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) |
Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
Objective Group: | Marine systems and management |
Objective Field: | Marine biodiversity |
UTAS Author: | Grant, ML (Miss Megan Grant) |
UTAS Author: | Lavers, JL (Dr Jennifer Lavers) |
UTAS Author: | Bond, AL (Dr Alexander Bond) |
ID Code: | 143032 |
Year Published: | 2021 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 5 |
Deposited By: | Ecology and Biodiversity |
Deposited On: | 2021-02-23 |
Last Modified: | 2021-10-06 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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