Prevalence of marine debris in marine birds from the North Atlantic

Jennifer F. Provencher; Alexander L. Bond; April Hedd; William A. Montevecchi; Sabir Bin Muzaffar; Sarah J. Courchesne; H. Grant Gilchrist; Sarah E. Jamieson; Flemming R. Merkel; Knud Falk; Jan Durinck; Mark L. Mallory

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.04.044

Prevalence of marine debris in marine birds from the North Atlantic

Jennifer F. Provencher, Alexander L. Bond, April Hedd, William A. Montevecchi, Sabir Bin Muzaffar, Sarah J. Courchesne, H. Grant Gilchrist, Sarah E. Jamieson, Flemming R. Merkel, Knud Falk, Jan Durinck, Mark L. Mallory

Department of Biology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

87 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Marine birds have been found to ingest plastic debris in many of the world's oceans. Plastic accumulation data from necropsies findings and regurgitation studies are presented on 13 species of marine birds in the North Atlantic, from Georgia, USA to Nunavut, Canada and east to southwest Greenland and the Norwegian Sea. Of the species examined, the two surface plungers (great shearwaters Puffinus gravis; northern fulmars Fulmarus glacialis) had the highest prevalence of ingested plastic (71% and 51%, respectively). Great shearwaters also had the most pieces of plastics in their stomachs, with some individuals containing as many of 36 items. Seven species contained no evidence of plastic debris. Reporting of baseline data as done here is needed to ensure that data are available for marine birds over time and space scales in which we see changes in historical debris patterns in marine environments (i.e. decades) and among oceanographic regions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	411-417
Number of pages	7
Journal	Marine Pollution Bulletin
Volume	84
Issue number	1-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.04.044
Publication status	Published - Jul 15 2014

Keywords

Fulmar
North Atlantic
Ocean
Plastic
Pollution
Shearwater

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Oceanography
Aquatic Science
Pollution

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10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.04.044

Cite this

@article{718c3f1a03394643bccf644c48596c69,

title = "Prevalence of marine debris in marine birds from the North Atlantic",

abstract = "Marine birds have been found to ingest plastic debris in many of the world's oceans. Plastic accumulation data from necropsies findings and regurgitation studies are presented on 13 species of marine birds in the North Atlantic, from Georgia, USA to Nunavut, Canada and east to southwest Greenland and the Norwegian Sea. Of the species examined, the two surface plungers (great shearwaters Puffinus gravis; northern fulmars Fulmarus glacialis) had the highest prevalence of ingested plastic (71% and 51%, respectively). Great shearwaters also had the most pieces of plastics in their stomachs, with some individuals containing as many of 36 items. Seven species contained no evidence of plastic debris. Reporting of baseline data as done here is needed to ensure that data are available for marine birds over time and space scales in which we see changes in historical debris patterns in marine environments (i.e. decades) and among oceanographic regions.",

keywords = "Fulmar, North Atlantic, Ocean, Plastic, Pollution, Shearwater",

author = "Provencher, {Jennifer F.} and Bond, {Alexander L.} and April Hedd and Montevecchi, {William A.} and Muzaffar, {Sabir Bin} and Courchesne, {Sarah J.} and Gilchrist, {H. Grant} and Jamieson, {Sarah E.} and Merkel, {Flemming R.} and Knud Falk and Jan Durinck and Mallory, {Mark L.}",

note = "Funding Information: We thank all those that helped to collect, dissect and process the birds from various projects that contributed to this paper. M. McCloskey, C. Robert and G. Savard helped at the National Wildlife Research Centre. We thank K. Tucker and S. Gilliland for providing carcasses. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and Environment Canada (Science and Technology Branch and the Canadian Wildlife Service) provided funding for our ongoing research. Our research on seabirds and plastic has been supported by M. Forbes, K.A. Hobson, G.J. Robertson, and S.I. Wilhelm.",

year = "2014",

month = jul,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.04.044",

language = "English",

volume = "84",

pages = "411--417",

journal = "Marine Pollution Bulletin",

issn = "0025-326X",

publisher = "Elsevier Inc.",

number = "1-2",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Prevalence of marine debris in marine birds from the North Atlantic

AU - Provencher, Jennifer F.

AU - Bond, Alexander L.

AU - Hedd, April

AU - Montevecchi, William A.

AU - Muzaffar, Sabir Bin

AU - Courchesne, Sarah J.

AU - Gilchrist, H. Grant

AU - Jamieson, Sarah E.

AU - Merkel, Flemming R.

AU - Falk, Knud

AU - Durinck, Jan

AU - Mallory, Mark L.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank all those that helped to collect, dissect and process the birds from various projects that contributed to this paper. M. McCloskey, C. Robert and G. Savard helped at the National Wildlife Research Centre. We thank K. Tucker and S. Gilliland for providing carcasses. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and Environment Canada (Science and Technology Branch and the Canadian Wildlife Service) provided funding for our ongoing research. Our research on seabirds and plastic has been supported by M. Forbes, K.A. Hobson, G.J. Robertson, and S.I. Wilhelm.

PY - 2014/7/15

Y1 - 2014/7/15

N2 - Marine birds have been found to ingest plastic debris in many of the world's oceans. Plastic accumulation data from necropsies findings and regurgitation studies are presented on 13 species of marine birds in the North Atlantic, from Georgia, USA to Nunavut, Canada and east to southwest Greenland and the Norwegian Sea. Of the species examined, the two surface plungers (great shearwaters Puffinus gravis; northern fulmars Fulmarus glacialis) had the highest prevalence of ingested plastic (71% and 51%, respectively). Great shearwaters also had the most pieces of plastics in their stomachs, with some individuals containing as many of 36 items. Seven species contained no evidence of plastic debris. Reporting of baseline data as done here is needed to ensure that data are available for marine birds over time and space scales in which we see changes in historical debris patterns in marine environments (i.e. decades) and among oceanographic regions.

AB - Marine birds have been found to ingest plastic debris in many of the world's oceans. Plastic accumulation data from necropsies findings and regurgitation studies are presented on 13 species of marine birds in the North Atlantic, from Georgia, USA to Nunavut, Canada and east to southwest Greenland and the Norwegian Sea. Of the species examined, the two surface plungers (great shearwaters Puffinus gravis; northern fulmars Fulmarus glacialis) had the highest prevalence of ingested plastic (71% and 51%, respectively). Great shearwaters also had the most pieces of plastics in their stomachs, with some individuals containing as many of 36 items. Seven species contained no evidence of plastic debris. Reporting of baseline data as done here is needed to ensure that data are available for marine birds over time and space scales in which we see changes in historical debris patterns in marine environments (i.e. decades) and among oceanographic regions.

KW - Fulmar

KW - North Atlantic

KW - Ocean

KW - Plastic

KW - Pollution

KW - Shearwater

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ER -

Prevalence of marine debris in marine birds from the North Atlantic

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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