Plastic ingestion in albatrosses and petrels off the shores of Argentina and Brazil.

LUCIANA GALLO; PATRICIA PEREIRA SERAFINI; VANSTREELS, RALPH ERIC THIJL; LEANDRO TAMINI; CRISTIANE KOLESNIKOVAS; PEREIRA, ALICE; TATIANA NEVES; GABRIEL DI NASCIMENTO; NATACHA ANABELLA GEREZ; NAHUEL CHAVEZ; RUBEN DELLACASA; UHART, MARCELA

Virtual

Congreso; III World Seabird Conference; 2021

Through a collaborative network, we evaluated plastic ingestion (items >1 mm) in 16 Procellariiform species along the coast of Brazil and Argentina. Plastic items were found in 30.2% of carcasses examined (n=161), with White-chinned Petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis), Southern Giant Petrel (Macronectes giganteus) Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross (Thalassarche chlororhynchos), and Manx Shearwater (Pufinus puffinus) being the most susceptible species. Our results showed a high frequency of occurrence (FO) of plastic ingestion in birds bycaught offshore in southern Brazil (FO=42.8%, n=21) but not in birds bycaught offshore in southern Argentina (FO=0%, n=46). Plastic ingestion was frequently recorded in beach-wrecked carcasses, being highest in Chubut, Argentina (FO=100%, n=3), followed by Espírito Santo, Brazil (FO=61%, n=23), Santa Catarina, Brazil (FO=23%, n=13), and Buenos Aires, Argentina (FO=20%, n=5). In birds that died at rehabilitation facilities, plastic ingestion was similarly frequent in Espírito Santo (FO=27%, n=11) and Santa Catarina (FO=29%, n=14). A high FO of plastic ingestion was also noted in Southern Giant Petrel carcasses collected at breeding colonies in Chubut, Argentina (FO=54%, n=24). The most common plastic items found in the bird's gut were fragments (71% of recovered items; including film and rigid fragments), followed by foam (i.e. polystyrene/polyurethane; 12%), pellets (10%), nylon line (4%) and other types of plastic (3%). Our findings confirm that plastic ingestion is a common problem for Procellariiforms in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean and highlight the need for mitigation and at-source reduction. The use of standardized protocols for sample collection and analysis along with comparable metrics and terminology will allow comparisons between investigations, as well as the detection of large-scale spatiotemporal patterns.