Abstract
Procellariiform seabirds are both the most threatened bird group globally, and the group with the highest incidence of marine debris ingestion. We examined the incidence and ecological factors associated with marine debris ingestion in Procellariiformes by examining seabirds collected at a global seabird hotspot, the Australasian - Southern Ocean boundary. We examined marine debris ingestion trends in 1734 individuals of 51 Procellariform species, finding significant variation in the incidence of marine debris abundance among species. Variation in the incidence of marine debris ingestion between species was influenced by the taxonomy, foraging ecology, diet, and foraging range overlaps with oceanic regions polluted with marine debris. Among the ecological drivers of marine debris ingestion variability in Procellariiformes, we demonstrate that the combination of taxonomy, foraging method, diet, and exposure to marine debris are the most important determinants of incidence of ingestion. We use these results to develop a global forecast for Procellariiform taxa at the risk of highest incidence of marine debris ingestion. We find seabirds that forage at the surface; especially by surface seizing, diving and filtering, those with a crustacean dominant diet, and those that forage in or near marine debris hotspots are at highest risk of debris ingestion. We predict that family with the highest risk are the storm petrels (Hydrobatidae and Oceanitidae). We demonstrate that the greater the exposure of high-risk groups to marine debris while foraging, the greater the incidence and number of marine debris items will be ingested.
Highlights
Ingestion of plastics and other debris in the marine environment is a widespread, emerging threat to seabirds[1,2], which mistake plastics for food[3]
Debris ingestion by an individual seabird can be predicted by its foraging strategy, taxonomic grouping, diet and the environmental exposure to marine debris pollution, demonstrating that the ecological drivers of marine debris ingestion are complex and cannot be attributed to a single variable
Understanding the relative contributions of these ecological factors to the incidence of marine debris ingestion is useful for forecasting seabird species at high risk of marine debris ingestion – and the geographic areas of highest risk
Summary
Ingestion of plastics and other debris in the marine environment is a widespread, emerging threat to seabirds[1,2], which mistake plastics for food[3]. With an estimated 15–51 trillion plastic pieces currently floating in the world’s oceans[5], and more entering daily, floating plastics and other marine debris pose a growing risk to seabirds[2]. Seabirds predicted to be at greatest risk are those within the Southern Ocean boundary, surrounding the Tasman sea between Australia and New Zealand, as it is an identified hotspot for risk of debris ingestion in seabirds[6]. There has yet to be a synoptic, comprehensive, multi-species study of Procellariiformes examining the relative contribution of potential drivers which may put some species at greater risk of marine debris ingestion than others. We add to this previous modelling[6] by evaluating the relative importance of ecological drivers of debris ingestion in Procellariiform seabirds and used this information to forecast which seabird groups are at the highest risk of debris ingestion. Using the incidence of debris ingestion across 51 Procellariiform species, we determined a set of ecological criteria useful for predicting risk of marine debris ingestion
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