Ingestion of plastic marine debris by Common and Thick-billed Murres in the northwestern Atlantic from 1985 to 2012

MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN

卷:77

Article

Bond, Alexander L.^1,2  Provencher, Jennifer F.³  Elliot, Richard D.⁴  Ryan, Pierre C.⁵  Rowe, Sherrylynn^6,7  Jones, Ian L.⁶  Robertson, Gregory J.⁸  Wilhelm, Sabina I.⁵ 

[1] Univ Saskatchewan, Dept Biol, Saskatoon, SK S7N 3H5, Canada

[2] Environm Canada, Saskatoon, SK S7N 3H5, Canada

[3] Carleton Univ, Natl Wildlife Res Ctr, Dept Biol, Ottawa, ON K1A 0H3, Canada

[4] Environm Canada, Wildlife & Landscape Sci Directorate, Sackville, NB E4L 1G6, Canada

[5] Environm Canada, Canadian Wildlife Serv, Mt Pearl, NF A1N 4T3, Canada

[6] Mem Univ Newfoundland, Dept Biol, St John, NF A1B 3X9, Canada

[7] Mem Univ Newfoundland, Fisheries & Marine Inst, Ctr Fisheries Ecosyst Res, St John, NF A1C 5R3, Canada

[8] Environm Canada, Wildlife & Landscape Sci Directorate, Mt Pearl, NF A1N 4T3, Canada

关键词: Atlantic;    Newfoundland;    Uria aalge;    Common Murre;    Uria lomvia;    Thick-billed Murre;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.10.005

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Plastic ingestion by seabirds is a growing conservation issue, but there are few time series of plastic ingestion with large sample sizes for which one can assess temporal trends. Common and Thick-billed Murres (Uria aalge and U. lomvia) are pursuit-diving auks that are legally harvested in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Here, we combined previously unpublished data on plastic ingestion (from the 1980s to the 1990s) with contemporary samples (2011-2012) to evaluate changes in murres' plastic ingestion. Approximately 7% of murres had ingested plastic, with no significant change in the frequency of ingestion among species or periods. The number of pieces of plastic/bird, and mass of plastic/bird were highest in the 19805, lowest in the late 1990s, and intermediate in contemporary samples. Studying plastic ingestion in harvested seabird populations links harvesters to conservation and health-related issues and is a useful source of large samples for diet and plastic ingestion studies. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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