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Life starts with plastic: High occurrence of plastic pieces in fledglings of northern fulmars

Academic article
Year of publication
2024
Journal
Marine Pollution Bulletin
External websites
Cristin
Arkiv
Doi
Contributors
France Collard, Stine Charlotte Benjaminsen, Dorte Herzke, Eirin Husabø, Kjetil Sagerup, Felix Tulatz, Geir W. Gabrielsen

Summary

Plastic pollution threatens many organisms around the world. In particular, the northern fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis, is known to ingest high quantities of plastics. Since data are sparse in the Eurasian Arctic, we investigated plastic burdens in the stomachs of fulmar fledglings from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. Fifteen birds were collected and only particles larger than 1 mm were extracted, characterised and analysed with Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy. All birds ingested plastic. In total, 683 plastic particles were found, with an average of 46 ± 40 SD items per bird. The most common shape, colour and polymer were hard fragment, white, and polyethylene, respectively. Microplastics ( 5 mm). This study confirms high numbers of ingested plastics in fulmar fledglings from Svalbard and suggests that fulmar fledglings may be suitable for temporal monitoring of plastic pollution, avoiding potential biases caused by age composition or breeding state.