Department of Chemistry, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
School of Environmental Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2021 Oct;171:112640. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112640. Epub 2021 Jul 7.
Chemical characterization of plastics ingested by wildlife helps identify sources of plastic pollution in nature and informs assessments of exposure risk to contaminants. In 2016, Red Phalaropes (Phalaropus fulicarius) were found dead on the north coast of British Columbia, Canada, during their southward migration. Previously, ingested particles suspected to be plastics were reported upon gut examination in all carcasses collected, which likely contributed to mortality. Here, we provide chemical identification of the ingested particles using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Polymer identification was successful for 41 of the 52 analysed particles (79%): 41 (79%) were confirmed as plastics, 6 (11%) were not plastics, and 5 (10%) could not be identified. The most commonly ingested plastics were polyethylene (42%) and polypropylene (23%), both of which are known to float in the marine environment. Our study highlights the vulnerability of surface foraging seabirds to plastic pollution in the marine environment.
摄入野生动物体内的塑料的化学特征有助于确定自然界中塑料污染的来源，并为评估污染物暴露风险提供信息。2016 年，在加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省北部海岸，正在向南迁徙的红腹滨鹬（Phalaropus fulicarius）死亡。此前，在所有收集到的尸体中，肠道检查都怀疑摄入了疑似塑料的颗粒，这可能导致了死亡。在这里，我们使用傅里叶变换红外（FTIR）光谱法对摄入的颗粒进行化学鉴定。对 52 个分析颗粒中的 41 个（79%）成功进行了聚合物识别：41 个（79%）被确认为塑料，6 个（11%）不是塑料，5 个（10%）无法识别。最常摄入的塑料是聚乙烯（42%）和聚丙烯（23%），这两种塑料都已知在海洋环境中漂浮。我们的研究强调了海鸟在海洋环境中易受塑料污染的脆弱性。
