Life Sciences Commons^™

Using Age To Assess Retention Time Of Ingested Plastic In Seabirds, Tessa G. Nania, Gary Shugart, Peter Hodum

Summer Research

For the past 30 years, plastic pollution research has used plastic ingested and retain in seabirds’ gastrointestinal (GIT) tract as indicators of pollution on different spatial and temporal scales. Types and size of plastic found in birds’ stomachs were used to determine pollution types and severity at different times and places. However, the length of time that birds can retain plastic in their GIT is unknown, making ingested plastic’s use as a bioindicator questionable. We assessed retention times in two seabird species, the Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) and the Cassin’s Auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus), and compared the …