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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, Plastics in the Environment Virtual Conference Programme, 15 March, online, pp. 34. (2021) [Conference Extract]
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Official URL: https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/expired/05-plastics-in-...
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 (i.e., plastics), seabirds are depositing these same pollutants wherever they come
to land. Using data from 2018-2020, 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 – 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: | Conference Extract |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | seabird ecology, plastic pollution, remote island |
| 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: | 145741 |
| Year Published: | 2021 |
| Deposited By: | Ecology and Biodiversity |
| Deposited On: | 2021-08-04 |
| Last Modified: | 2021-08-04 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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