Plastic ingestion and associated additives in Faroe Islands chicks of the Northern Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis

• Published in: Water Biology and Security Vol. 1; no. 4; p. 100079
• Main Authors: Collard, France, Leconte, Simon, Danielsen, Jóhannis, Halsband, Claudia, Herzke, Dorte, Harju, Mikael, Tulatz, Felix, Gabrielsen, Geir W., Tarroux, Arnaud
• Format: Journal Article Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.11.2022; Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences; KeAi Communications Co. Ltd
• Subjects: adults; Arctic; biphenyl; Chick; class; Dechlorane; digestion; Early life stage; Early life stages; environmental monitoring; Environmental sciences & ecology; Faroe Islands; Fulmarus glacialis; gas chromatography; ingestion; Life sciences; liver; mass spectrometry; Microplastic; Monitoring; North Sea; PBDE; PBDEs; Plastic pollution; pollutants; pollution; polyethylene; Sciences de l’environnement & écologie; Sciences du vivant; Seabird; seabirds; species; water; North Sea; Dechlorane; PBDE; Early life stage; Seabird; Arctic; Monitoring; Plastic pollution
• ISSN: 2772-7351; 2772-7351
• DOI: 10.1016/j.watbs.2022.100079

Northern Fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) are a pelagic seabird species distributed at northern and polar latitudes. They are often used as an indicator of plastic pollution in the North Sea region, but data are lacking from higher latitudes, especially when it comes to chicks. Here, we investigated amounts of ingested plastic and their characteristics in fulmar chicks from the Faroe Islands. Plastic particles (≥1 ​mm) in chicks of two age classes were searched using a digestion method with KOH. In addition, to evaluate if additive tissue burden reflects plastic ingestion, we measured liver tissue concentrations of two pollutant classes associated with plastic materials: polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and several dechloranes, using gas chromatography with high-resolution mass spectrometry. The most common shape was hard fragment (81%) and the most common polymer was polyethylene (73%). Plastic contamination did not differ between either age class, and we found no correlation between neither the amount and mass of plastic particles and the concentration of additives. After comparison with previous studies on adult fulmars, we do not recommend using chicks for biomonitoring adults because chicks seem to ingest more plastics than adults. •95% of the chicks (2 and 6 weeks old) ingested plastic (12.4 ​± ​17.5 pieces per bird).•Yellow and white PE and PP fragments dominated ingested particles.•40% of the birds exceeded the Ecological Quality Objective threshold (0.1 ​g).•PBDE and dechloranes were found in liver tissue of all birds.•Plastic burden was not correlated with measured pollutant concentrations in the liver.