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Plastic ingestion by Newell’s (Puffinus newelli) and wedge-tailed shearwaters (Ardenna pacifica) in Hawaii

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 23, pages 23951–23958 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

The ingestion of plastic by seabirds has been used as an indicator of pollution in the marine environment. On Kaua‘i, HI, USA, 50.0 % of Newell’s (Puffinus newelli) and 76.9 % of wedge-tailed shearwater (Ardenna pacifica) fledglings necropsied during 2007–2014 contained plastic items in their digestive tract, while 42.1 % of adult wedge-tailed shearwaters had ingested plastic. For both species, the frequency of plastic ingestion has increased since the 1980s with some evidence that the mass and the number of items ingested per bird have also increased. The color of plastic ingested by the shearwaters was assessed relative to beach-washed plastics by using Jaccard’s index (where J = 1 complete similarity). The color (J = 0.65–0.68) of items ingested by both species, and the type ingested by wedge-tailed shearwaters (J = 0.85–0.87), overlapped with plastic available in the local environment indicating moderate selection for plastic color and type. This study has shown that the Hawaiian populations of shearwaters, like many seabird species, provide useful but worrying insights into plastic pollution and the health of our oceans.

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Acknowledgments

This project was a collaboration between the Kaua‘i Community College, the Kauai Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, and the Kaua‘i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project (KESRP). Funding was generously provided by the Surfrider Foundation as part of its Kaua‘i Marine Debris Program, with staff time and resources provided by KESRP. We thank Save Our Shearwaters, Hawaii Department of Fish and Wildlife, and T. Anderson for additional support. Three anonymous reviewers provided valuable feedback on earlier drafts of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kaua‘i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project, 3900 Hanapepe Rd, Hanapepe, HI, 96716, USA

    Elizabeth C. Kain & André F. Raine

  2. Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, 20 Castray Esplanade, Battery Point, Tasmania, 7004, Australia

    Jennifer L. Lavers

  3. Kaua‘i Chapter, Surfrider Foundation, PO Box 819, Waimea, HI, 96796, USA

    Carl J. Berg

  4. Ardenna Research, Potton, Sandy, Bedfordshire, SG19 2QA, UK

    Alexander L. Bond

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  1. Elizabeth C. Kain
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  2. Jennifer L. Lavers
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  5. Alexander L. Bond
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Correspondence to Jennifer L. Lavers.

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Kain, E.C., Lavers, J.L., Berg, C.J. et al. Plastic ingestion by Newell’s (Puffinus newelli) and wedge-tailed shearwaters (Ardenna pacifica) in Hawaii. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 23951–23958 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7613-1

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