Centro de Investigación de Fauna Marina y Avistamiento de Cetáceos (CIFAMAC), Mejillones, Chile; Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Santo Tomás, Antofagasta, Chile.
Laboratorio de Toxicología Acuática (AQUATOX), Instituto de Ciencias Naturales Alexander von Humboldt, Facultad de Ciencias del Mar y Recursos Biologicos, Universidad de Antofagasta, Chile; Centro de Rescate y Rehabilitación de Fauna Silvestre, Universidad de Antofagasta, Chile.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2020 Nov;160:111632. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111632. Epub 2020 Sep 12.
Plastic debris affects the survival of numerous marine species such as seabirds. Several studies have report ingestion and entanglement of seabird species in plastic debris but just few describe plastic presence in nests. Here we report the first evidence of a novel artificial nesting colony of red-legged cormorant (Phalacrocorax gaimardi) using plastic as nesting material in two major seaport structures in Northern Chile. We sampled 18 abandoned nests and determined that overall nests contained plastic: industrial polypropylene bulk bags (35%), plastic bags (33%) and fishing gear (10%). Plastic types differ among seaports, ENAEX (National Company of Explosives) seaport located near the main city contained plastic bags as predominant material while GNL (Liquid Natural Gas Company) seaport located near the industrial area contained bulkbag fibers. Further research should analyze debris in beaches nearby the nesting colony in order to assess whether red-legged cormorants have any plastic preference or if they use the most available in the nature.
塑料碎片会影响到许多海洋物种的生存，比如海鸟。已有多项研究报告了海鸟误食和被塑料碎片缠绕的现象，但仅有少数研究描述了海鸟巢穴中存在塑料。在这里，我们首次报告了在智利北部两个主要海港的建筑中，红脚鸬鹚（Phalacrocorax gaimardi）使用塑料作为筑巢材料的新型人工筑巢群体的证据。我们对 18 个废弃鸟巢进行了采样，结果表明，总体鸟巢中含有塑料：工业用聚丙烯散装袋（35%）、塑料袋（33%）和渔具（10%）。不同港口的塑料类型不同，位于主要城市附近的 ENAEX（国家炸药公司）港口以塑料袋为主要材料，而位于工业区附近的 GNL（液化天然气公司）港口则含有散装袋纤维。进一步的研究应该分析筑巢地附近海滩上的碎片，以评估红脚鸬鹚是否对塑料有偏好，或者它们是否只是利用了自然界中最常见的材料。
