title: Levels of ingested debris vary across species in Canadian Arctic seabirds.
abstract: Plastic debris has become a major pollutant in the world's oceans and is found in many seabird species from low to high latitudes. Here we compare levels of plastic ingestion from two surface feeders, northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) and black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), and two pursuit diving species, thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia) and black guillemots (Cepphus grylle) in the Canadian high Arctic. This is the first report quantifying plastic ingestion in kittiwakes in this region, and as predicted, kittiwakes and fulmars had higher frequency of plastic ingestion than guillemots and murres. Despite this, amounts of plastic ingested by birds remain lower than regions farther south.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada. Electronic address: poon_florence@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Florence E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada.
authors.forename: Jennifer F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Provencher
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia B4P 2R6, Canada.
authors.forename: Mark L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Mallory
authors.affiliation: Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada.
authors.forename: Birgit M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Braune
authors.affiliation: Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6, Canada.
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001110:Arctic Regions; D002170:Canada; D046091:Charadriiformes; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005766:Gastrointestinal Contents; D010969:Plastics
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics
keywords: Debris; Foraging guild; Marine birds; Plastic; Pollution