The prevalence and source of plastic incorporated into nests of five seabird species on a small offshore island

Danielle L. Thompson; Thomas S. Ovenden; Tom Pennycott; Ruedi G. Nager

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111076

The prevalence and source of plastic incorporated into nests of five seabird species on a small offshore island

Danielle L. Thompson^* (Corresponding Author), Thomas S. Ovenden, Tom Pennycott, Ruedi G. Nager

^*Corresponding author for this work

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

32 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There is little evidence documenting the prevalence of plastic nest incorporation for different seabird species and populations, and even less detailing the source of such debris as nesting material. This study presents a baseline dataset on the presence of plastic in the nests of five seabird species on Lady Isle, Scotland using a novel and repeatable methodology for quantifying plastic incorporated into nests. Plastic was found in 24.5% to 80% of nests of all species. We analysed pellets of regurgitated material and the spatial distribution of herring gull nests containing plastic in the context of the tide and nesting habitat. Differences in the types of plastic found in pellets and nests suggests that plastic incorporated into herring gull nests was not derived at foraging sites and likely collected from the local environment. Targeted beach cleans before the breeding season could help minimise the quantity of plastic available to herring gulls.

Original language	English
Article number	111076
Number of pages	8
Journal	Marine Pollution Bulletin
Volume	154
Early online date	26 Mar 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111076
Publication status	Published - 1 May 2020
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Dave Grant, Hayley Douglas and Agnes Olin for help in the field, Nina O'Hanlon and Agnes Olin for comments on a previous draft of the manuscript, Matt Page for help with assessing tidal flow directions in the study area, and Maria Bogdanova for the discussion of analyses. We are very grateful to the editor and to two anonymous reviewers for their positive and constructive comments which have ultimately strengthened this manuscript.

Keywords

Plastic ingestion
Nest-building
North Atlantic
Marine debris
Plastic pollution
Litter

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Cite this

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abstract = "There is little evidence documenting the prevalence of plastic nest incorporation for different seabird species and populations, and even less detailing the source of such debris as nesting material. This study presents a baseline dataset on the presence of plastic in the nests of five seabird species on Lady Isle, Scotland using a novel and repeatable methodology for quantifying plastic incorporated into nests. Plastic was found in 24.5% to 80% of nests of all species. We analysed pellets of regurgitated material and the spatial distribution of herring gull nests containing plastic in the context of the tide and nesting habitat. Differences in the types of plastic found in pellets and nests suggests that plastic incorporated into herring gull nests was not derived at foraging sites and likely collected from the local environment. Targeted beach cleans before the breeding season could help minimise the quantity of plastic available to herring gulls.",

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The prevalence and source of plastic incorporated into nests of five seabird species on a small offshore island

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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