Presence of plastic particles in waterbirds faeces collected in Spanish lakes.
Plastic intake by marine vertebrates has been widely reported, but information about its presence in continental waterfowl is scarce. Here we analyzed faeces of waterbirds species (European coot, Fulica atra, mallard, Anas platyrhynchos and shelduck, Tadorna tadorna) for plastic debris in five wetlands in Central Spain. We collected 89 faeces of shelduck distributed in four lakes, 43.8% of them presented plastic remnants. Sixty percent of 10 faeces of European coot and 45% of 40 faeces of mallard contained plastic debris. Plastic debris found was of two types, threads and fragments, and were identified as remnants of plastic objects used in agricultural fields surrounding the lakes. Differences in prevalence of plastic in faeces, number of plastic pieces per excrement and size of the plastic pieces were not statistically significant between waterfowl species. Thus, our results suggest that plastic may also be frequently ingested by waterfowl in continental waters, at least in our study area. Future studies should address this potential problem for waterbird conservation in other wetlands to evaluate the real impact of this pollutant on waterbirds living in inland water.
ICBiBE, Universidad de Valencia, Polígono La Coma, s/n, 46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: gild@uv.es.
J A
JA
Gil-Delgado
ICBiBE, Universidad de Valencia, Polígono La Coma, s/n, 46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain.
D
D
Guijarro
Departamento de Geografía y Ordenación del Territorio, Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Avda. Camilo José Cela, s/n, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain. Electronic address: rafaelu.gosalvez@uclm.es.
R U
RU
Gosálvez
Departamento de Ecología - IMEM Ramon Margalef, Universidad de Alicante, Aptdo. 99, 03080 Alicante, Spain. Electronic address: german.lopez@ua.es.
G M
GM
López-Iborra
Departamento de Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/ Ciudad Escolar, s/n, 44003 Teruel, Spain. Electronic address: adrian.ponz@unizar.es.
A
A
Ponz
Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Tecnológico de la Fábrica de Armas, Av. Carlos III, s/n, E-45071 Toledo, Spain. Electronic address: angel.vgarcia@uclm.es.
A
A
Velasco
D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds; D004372:Ducks / Q000378:metabolism*; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry*; D060106:Lakes; D010969:Plastics / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D013030:Spain; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000032:analysis*; D053833:Wetlands
D010969:Plastics; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
Continental lakes; Faeces; Plastic pollution; Waterbird species