title: Plastics and other anthropogenic debris in freshwater birds from Canada.
abstract: Plastics in marine environments are a global environmental issue. Plastic ingestion is associated with a variety of deleterious health effects in marine wildlife, and is a focus of much international research and monitoring. However, little research has focused on ramifications of plastic debris for freshwater organisms, despite marine and freshwater environments often having comparable plastic concentrations. We quantified plastic and other anthropogenic debris in 350 individuals of 17 freshwater and one marine bird species collected across Canada. We determined freshwater birds' anthropogenic debris ingestion rates to be 11.1% across all species studied. This work establishes that plastics and other anthropogenic debris are a genuine concern for management of the health of freshwater ecosystems, and provides a baseline for the prevalence of plastic and other anthropogenic debris ingestion in freshwater birds in Canada, with relevance for many other locations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS B4P 2R6, Canada. Electronic address: erikaholland@acadiau.ca.
authors.forename: Erika R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Holland
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS B4P 2R6, Canada. Electronic address: mark.mallory@acadiau.ca.
authors.forename: Mark L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Mallory
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS B4P 2R6, Canada. Electronic address: dave.shutler@acadiau.ca.
authors.forename: Dave
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shutler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D046090:Anseriformes; D059001:Aquatic Organisms; D001717:Birds; D049628:Body Size; D002170:Canada; D004435:Eating; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D010969:Plastics / Q000032:analysis*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014866:Waste Products / Q000032:analysis*; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; D014866:Waste Products; D014873:Water Pollutants
keywords: Birdshot; Diet; Metal; Microplastics; Non-plastic rubbish