title: Ingestion of plastic marine debris by Common and Thick-billed Murres in the northwestern Atlantic from 1985 to 2012.
abstract: Plastic ingestion by seabirds is a growing conservation issue, but there are few time series of plastic ingestion with large sample sizes for which one can assess temporal trends. Common and Thick-billed Murres (Uria aalge and U. lomvia) are pursuit-diving auks that are legally harvested in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Here, we combined previously unpublished data on plastic ingestion (from the 1980s to the 1990s) with contemporary samples (2011-2012) to evaluate changes in murres' plastic ingestion. Approximately 7% of murres had ingested plastic, with no significant change in the frequency of ingestion among species or periods. The number of pieces of plastic/bird, and mass of plastic/bird were highest in the 1980s, lowest in the late 1990s, and intermediate in contemporary samples. Studying plastic ingestion in harvested seabird populations links harvesters to conservation and health-related issues and is a useful source of large samples for diet and plastic ingestion studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, and Environment Canada, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 3H5, Canada. Electronic address: alex.bond@usask.ca.
authors.forename: Alexander L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Bond
authors.forename: Jennifer F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Provencher
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Elliot
authors.forename: Pierre C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: Sherrylynn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.forename: Ian L
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Gregory J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.forename: Sabina I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Wilhelm
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D046091:Charadriiformes / Q000502:physiology*; D004435:Eating; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D009523:Newfoundland and Labrador; D010969:Plastics / Q000032:analysis*; D014866:Waste Products / Q000032:analysis*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; D014866:Waste Products; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Atlantic; Common Murre; Newfoundland; Thick-billed Murre; Uria aalge; Uria lomvia