Plastic debris in great skua (Stercorarius skua) pellets corresponds to seabird prey species

Marine Pollution Bulletin
S HammerJennifer F Provencher

Abstract

Plastic is a common item in marine environments. Studies assessing seabird ingestion of plastics have focused on species that ingest plastics mistaken for prey items. Few studies have examined a scavenger and predatory species that are likely to ingest plastics indirectly through their prey items, such as the great skua (Stercorarius skua). We examined 1034 regurgitated pellets from a great skua colony in the Faroe Islands for plastics and found approximately 6% contained plastics. Pellets containing remains of Northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) had the highest prevalence of plastic. Our findings support previous work showing that Northern fulmars have higher loads of plastics than other sympatric species. This study demonstrates that marine plastic debris is transferred from surface feeding seabird species to predatory great skuas. Examination of plastic ingestion in species that do not ingest plastics directly can provide insights into how plastic particles transfer vertically within the food web.

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Citations

Jun 13, 2016·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Rebecca SuttonCarolynn Box
Aug 9, 2016·Marine Environmental Research·Heidi AcamporaIan O'Connor
Aug 31, 2016·Environmental Pollution·Sherri A MasonDarrin L Rogers
Sep 15, 2016·Environmental Science & Technology·Austin K BaldwinSherri A Mason
May 14, 2020·Journal of Environmental Science and Health. Part C, Toxicology and Carcinogenesis·Amrik Bhattacharya, S K Khare
Jul 23, 2020·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Anna WinklerPaolo Tremolada
Sep 18, 2016·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Elizabeth C KainAlexander L Bond
May 15, 2019·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Lingshi YinYuan Ma
Jan 21, 2019·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Corrado BattistiGiovanni Amori
Aug 19, 2020·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Lillian G StewartAlexander L Bond
Feb 24, 2021·Environmental Pollution·Megan L GrantAlexander L Bond
Dec 7, 2018·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Giuseppe Bonanno, Martina Orlando-Bonaca
May 4, 2021·Marine Pollution Bulletin·Alexander L BondJennifer L Lavers
Aug 11, 2021·Environmental Science & Technology·Yanchun DengChunsheng Hou
Sep 10, 2021·Environmental Science & Technology·Hayley K McIlwraithChelsea M Rochman
Oct 3, 2021·The Science of the Total Environment·Cassandra SherlockChelsea Rochman

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