Micro-plastic ingestion by waterbirds from contaminated wetlands in South Africa

Reynolds, Chevonne; Ryan, Peter G.

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.11.021

Cited by 165 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Both involved water fowl or water rails, and showed that sample contamination by plastic was variable within and between the studies: occurrence ranged from 43% to 60% in shelducks ( Tadorna tadorna ), European coots ( Fulica atra ) and mallards ( Anas platyrhynchos ) at disused waste dumps (Gil‐Delgado et al., 2017), but was only 5% in six duck spp. from South African wetlands (Reynolds & Ryan, 2018). The scale of plastic occurrence in these cases accords with our data on dippers, but direct plastic ingestion rather than food web transfer is more likely in these omnivorous/herbivorous species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food web transfer of plastics to an apex riverine predator

D’Souza

Windsor

Santillo

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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As a rapidly accelerating expression of global change, plastics now occur extensively in freshwater ecosystems, yet there is barely any evidence of their transfer through food webs. Following previous observations that plastics occur widely in their prey, we used a field study of free‐living Eurasian dippers (Cinclus cinclus), to test the hypotheses that (1) plastics are transferred from prey to predators in rivers, (2) plastics contained in prey are transferred by adults to altricial offspring during provisioning and (3) plastic concentrations in faecal and regurgitated pellets from dippers increase with urbanization. Plastic occurred in 50% of regurgitates (n = 74) and 45% of faecal samples (n = 92) collected non‐invasively from adult and nestling dippers at 15 sites across South Wales (UK). Over 95% of particles were fibres, and concentrations in samples increased with urban land cover. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy identified multiple polymers, including polyester, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride and vinyl chloride copolymers. Although characterized by uncertainty, steady‐state models using energetic data along with plastic concentration in prey and excreta suggest that around 200 plastic particles are ingested daily by dippers, but also excreted at rates that suggest transitory throughput. As some of the first evidence revealing that plastic is now being transferred through freshwater food webs, and between adult passerines and their offspring, these data emphasize the need to appraise the potential ecotoxicological consequences of increasing plastic pollution.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Food web transfer of plastics to an apex riverine predator

D’Souza

Windsor

Santillo

et al. 2020

Global Change Biology

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“…Multiple studies have been published that look at the ingestion of microplastics by birds in the terrestrial environment [142][143][144]; however, none investigated the toxicity, stress, or response of the birds to the microplastic ingestion. Conversely, mammals, such as mice [145], rats [146] and dogs [147], were investigated for toxicity of small microplastics, and serious implications were found.…”

Section: Microplasticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics and Nanoplastics in the Freshwater and Terrestrial Environment: A Review

Boyle

Örmeci

2020

Water

188

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This review is a critical analysis of current freshwater and terrestrial research with an emphasis on transport, behaviour, fate and subsequent ecological impacts that plastic pollution poses. The current methods of extraction and evaluation of organic-rich samples are also explored for both micro- and nanoplastics. Furthermore, micro- and nanoplastics are discussed with reference to their environmental and health implications for biota. Regulations imposed on the manufacture and distribution of plastics globally are also noted. Within the review, the current literature has been presented and knowledge gaps identified. These include the characterization and quantification of micro- and nanoplastics entering and forming within the freshwater and terrestrial environment, the fate and behaviour of micro- and nanoplastics under varying conditions and the impacts of micro- and nanoplastics on freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems.

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“…In addition to direct consumption of plastics, there is also the potential for indirect, or secondary, consumption of plastic pollution via prey that have ingested plastic debris (Nelms et al 2018). More-over, there are questions about retention, whether plastics are retained in the gut and eventually excreted or eliminated via feces or guano (Gil-Delgado et al 2017;e.g., Provencher et al 2018;Reynolds and Ryan 2018), or whether plastics accumulate over time in the gut or even outside the gut, in the tissues of organisms (Table 1). This pathway for how plastics enter organisms, and their fate inside organisms, is important to consider, especially for understanding how plastics move through food webs, whether they magnify up the food chain, and how this may facilitate plastic contamination in humans via seafood consumption.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing plastic debris in aquatic food webs: what we know and don’t know about uptake and trophic transfer

et al. 2019

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Plastic pollution is now recognized as a global environmental issue that can affect the health of biota and ecosystems. Now that a growing number of species and taxa are known to ingest a diverse range of sizes and types of plastics and retain the plastics in their guts, there are increasing questions relating to the movement of plastics through food webs, and how biota may directly and indirectly ingest plastics. Here, we synthesize what is known from the published, peer-reviewed literature about plastic ingestion by animals and identify critical gaps in our knowledge. We systematically reviewed and examined the literature for studies that reported ingested plastics in marine and freshwater biota at a global scale. Our objective was to inform discussions and future studies regarding what we know about plastic ingestion and fate in food webs. We assessed what regions, ecosystems, and food webs have been studied to date and whether potential information may already be available to assess if trophic transfer of plastics may be occurring. We found 160 relevant publications through 2016. Most studies were concentrated in specific regions and in specific ecosystem types, with freshwater studies being the most limited. Moreover, most studies examined one species at a time with only a handful of regions with multiple taxa examined across multiple studies. Twenty-one percent of the regions have no published data on plastic ingestion to date. Although some studies have measured ingestion in multiple species across trophic levels, few have tested the hypothesis that plastics are transferred across trophic levels. Moreover, none have addressed questions related to biomagnification. While our review suggests that numerous papers have recorded the ingestion of plastics by biota across many trophic levels, habitats, and geographic regions, many questions regarding how or whether biota retain, bioaccumulate, biomagnify, and trophically transfer plastics still need to be addressed.

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Micro-plastic ingestion by waterbirds from contaminated wetlands in South Africa

Cited by 165 publications

References 23 publications

Food web transfer of plastics to an apex riverine predator

Food web transfer of plastics to an apex riverine predator

Microplastics and Nanoplastics in the Freshwater and Terrestrial Environment: A Review

Assessing plastic debris in aquatic food webs: what we know and don’t know about uptake and trophic transfer

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