Microplastics and the Impact of Plastic on Wildlife: A Literature Review

Abstract

Microplastics (size <5 mm) have become an international attention since they have been discovered in wildlife and human gastro-intestinal tract, and might harm health. The objective of this paper is to review microplastics and analyze its possible impact on wildlife and seabird. Seabirds are upper-trophic level predators in marine ecosystems, feed on zooplankton, fish, and squid. Microplastics in seabirds have been reported in many countries, including the USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, China, the Netherlands, and North Pacific region, involving albatrosses, petrels, storm-petrels, fulmars, cormorants, shearwaters, penguins, and many other seabird species. Microplastics were accidentally ingested because of their resemblance to the fish, plankton, or from ingestion of microplastics that already occurred inside fish food. Types of microplastics were pellet, fragment, film, fiber, foamed plastic and styrofoam. Microplastics might decrease feeding stimuli by producing a false sense of fullness, causing the bird to stop eating, resulting in malnutrition and death. Other harmful impact on birds are interrupting nutrient absorption, disrupting reproductive problems, and hindered growth and survival of chicks. Study on microplastics in Indonesia is in progress, by using Little-black cormorant to represent seabirds.