Levels of ingested debris vary across species in Canadian Arctic seabirds.
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.
['Poon|Florence E|FE|', 'Provencher|Jennifer F|JF|', 'Mallory|Mark L|ML|', 'Braune|Birgit M|BM|', 'Smith|Paul A|PA|']
D000818:Animals D001110:Arctic Regions D002170:Canada D046091:Charadriiformes D004784:Environmental Monitoring D005247:Feeding Behavior D005766:Gastrointestinal Contents D010969:Plastics
Debris Plastic Pollution Foraging guild Marine birds