Marine Debris Plastic Ingestion By Australian Seabirds

This article looks at the rate of plastic ingestion by seabirds off the coast of Australia. Specifically, the authors examine the proportion of chicks that were fed plastic by their parents, the average number of fragments consumed, the typical size and weight, and the most common colors. The authors call for further research in response to this preliminary study to explore the impact that marine debris has on seabirds.

“We present the first evidence of ingestion of plastic by seabirds from the southern Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia. The occurrence of marine debris ingestion in the wedge-tailed shearwater, Ardenna pacifica, on Heron Island was the focus of this preliminary research. Our findings indicate that 21% of surveyed chicks are fed plastic fragments by their parents, having ingested 3.2 fragments on average. The most common colours of ingested plastic fragments were off/white (37.5%) and green (31.3%). Ingested fragments had a mean size of 10.17 ± 4.55 mm and a mean weight of 0.056 ± 0.051 g. Our results indicate that further research is critical to understanding the extent of ingestion, colour preferences, and what impacts ingestion may have on these and other seabird populations in the GBR.”