| Title |
Plastic ingestion by Flesh-footed Shearwaters (Puffinus carneipes): Implications for fledgling body condition and the accumulation of plastic-derived chemicals
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Environmental Pollution, January 2014
|
| DOI | 10.1016/j.envpol.2013.12.020 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Jennifer L. Lavers, Alexander L. Bond, Ian Hutton |
| Abstract |
To provide much needed quantitative data on the lethal and sublethal effects of plastic pollution on marine wildlife, we sampled breast feathers and stomach contents from Flesh-footed Shearwater (Puffinus carneipes) fledglings in eastern Australia. Birds with high levels of ingested plastic exhibited reduced body condition and increased contaminant load (p < 0.05). More than 60% of fledglings exceed international targets for plastic ingestion by seabirds, with 16% of fledglings failing these targets after a single feeding (range: 0.13-3.21 g of plastic/feeding). As top predators, seabirds are considered sentinels of the marine environment. The amount of plastic ingested and corresponding damage to Flesh-footed Shearwater fledglings is the highest reported for any marine vertebrate, suggesting the condition of the Australian marine environment is poor. These findings help explain the ongoing decline of this species and are worrying in light of increasing levels of plastic pollution in our oceans. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 21 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand | 3 | 14% |
| Netherlands | 1 | 5% |
| Spain | 1 | 5% |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1 | 5% |
| Unknown | 15 | 71% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 18 | 86% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 2 | 10% |
| Unknown | 1 | 5% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 425 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 4 | <1% |
| Chile | 2 | <1% |
| Germany | 1 | <1% |
| Australia | 1 | <1% |
| Italy | 1 | <1% |
| Belgium | 1 | <1% |
| United States | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 414 | 97% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Bachelor | 81 | 19% |
| Student > Master | 77 | 18% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 56 | 13% |
| Researcher | 51 | 12% |
| Other | 19 | 4% |
| Other | 42 | 10% |
| Unknown | 99 | 23% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental Science | 116 | 27% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 115 | 27% |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 17 | 4% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 13 | 3% |
| Engineering | 10 | 2% |
| Other | 32 | 8% |
| Unknown | 122 | 29% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 497. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 July 2023.
All research outputs
#52,165
of 25,368,786 outputs
Outputs from Environmental Pollution
#19
of 13,432 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#374
of 322,862 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Environmental Pollution
#1
of 50 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,368,786 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 13,432 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.7. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
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