Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 129, Hobart, Tasmania 7005, Australia.
Environment Canada, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 3H5 Canada.
Environ Pollut. 2014 Apr;187:124-9. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2013.12.020. Epub 2014 Jan 27.
To provide much needed quantitative data on the lethal and sublethal effects of plastic pollution on marine wildlife, we sampled breast feathers and stomach contents from Flesh-footed Shearwater (Puffinus carneipes) fledglings in eastern Australia. Birds with high levels of ingested plastic exhibited reduced body condition and increased contaminant load (p < 0.05). More than 60% of fledglings exceed international targets for plastic ingestion by seabirds, with 16% of fledglings failing these targets after a single feeding (range: 0.13-3.21 g of plastic/feeding). As top predators, seabirds are considered sentinels of the marine environment. The amount of plastic ingested and corresponding damage to Flesh-footed Shearwater fledglings is the highest reported for any marine vertebrate, suggesting the condition of the Australian marine environment is poor. These findings help explain the ongoing decline of this species and are worrying in light of increasing levels of plastic pollution in our oceans.
为了提供有关塑料污染对海洋野生动物致死和亚致死影响的急需的定量数据，我们在澳大利亚东部采集了刚离巢的弗氏麦哲伦企鹅（Puffinus carneipes）的胸羽和胃内容物样本。摄入大量塑料的鸟类表现出身体状况下降和污染物负荷增加（p<0.05）。超过 60%的刚离巢幼鸟摄入的塑料超过了海鸟的国际目标，有 16%的刚离巢幼鸟在单次进食后就超过了这些目标（范围：0.13-3.21 克塑料/次进食）。作为顶级掠食者，海鸟被认为是海洋环境的哨兵。刚离巢的弗氏麦哲伦企鹅摄入的塑料量及其对它们造成的相应损害是所有海洋脊椎动物中报告的最高值，这表明澳大利亚海洋环境的状况不佳。这些发现有助于解释该物种持续减少的原因，并且鉴于海洋中塑料污染水平不断增加，这令人担忧。
