Microplastic abundance in gull nests in relation to urbanization.

Autor: Lato KA; Stony Brook University, School Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, 100 Nicholls Rd, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA. Electronic address: kimberly.lato@stonybrook.edu., Thorne LH; Stony Brook University, School Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, 100 Nicholls Rd, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA., Fuirst M; Stony Brook University, School Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, 100 Nicholls Rd, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA., Brownawell BJ; Stony Brook University, School Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, 100 Nicholls Rd, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Marine pollution bulletin [Mar Pollut Bull] 2021 Mar; Vol. 164, pp. 112058. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Jan 27.
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112058
Abstrakt: Human activity and urbanization are having profound effects on natural landscapes and ecosystems. The presence and persistence of human-made materials such as microplastics can have major impacts on the health of organisms in both marine and terrestrial environments. We quantified microplastics in herring gull (Larus argentatus) and great black-backed gull (Larus marinus) nests at three colonies in the northeast United States that varied in their degree of urbanization: Jamaica Bay (JB) in New York City, Youngs Island (YI) on Long Island, New York, and Tuckernuck Island (TN) in Massachusetts. Nests in urban colonies contained a higher proportion of microplastics than those in the more remote colony. Our results link urbanization with microplastic accumulation in coastal environments and suggest that assessing microplastics in seabird nests could provide a means of evaluating microplastics encountered by seabirds and other coastal marine animals.
(Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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