Abstract:
Anthropogenic debris, particularly plastic pollution, has emerged as a significant environmental threat to biodiversity. Given that seabirds interact with artificial debris through ingestion, entanglement, and nest incorporation, it is particularly important to quantify the quantity, origins, and chemical composition of these debris items. In this work, it was evaluated for the first time the occurrence of anthropogenic debris in nests of yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis atlantis) in biosphere reserves of the Canary Islands (Spain). A total of 48 abandoned nests were collected from five remote and hardly accessible sampling areas, revealing that 81.3 % contained anthropogenic waste, with plastic accounting for 34.7 % of the debris, followed by metal (33.6 %) and paper (19.6 %). On average, 32.8 ± 40.9 items were found per nest. Regarding the origin, food packagings (47.8 %), personal hygiene products (21.7 %), and textiles (15.8 %) were identified as the predominant sources. Furthermore, the polymer composition of the plastics was characterised by means of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis, being polyester the most abundant (38.2 %), followed by polyethylene (25.6 %) and rayon (10.3 %). The incorporation of anthropogenic debris into nest construction may result from outdoor human activities carried out far from nesting areas.
摘要:
人为碎片,特别是塑料污染,已成为对生物多样性的重大环境威胁。鉴于海鸟通过摄入与人造碎片相互作用,纠缠,和巢穴合并,量化数量尤为重要,起源,和这些碎片的化学成分。在这项工作中,首次评估了加那利群岛(西班牙)生物圈保护区黄腿海鸥(Larusmichahellisatlantis)巢中人为碎片的发生。从五个偏远且难以进入的采样区收集了总共48个废弃的巢,揭示81.3%含有人为废物,塑料占碎片的34.7%,其次是金属(33.6%)和纸张(19.6%)。平均而言,每个巢发现32.8±40.9个项目。关于起源,食品包装(47.8%),个人卫生用品(21.7%),纺织品(15.8%)被确定为主要来源。此外,通过傅里叶变换红外光谱分析对塑料的聚合物组成进行了表征,聚酯是最丰富的(38.2%),其次是聚乙烯(25.6%)和人造丝(10.3%)。将人为碎片纳入巢穴结构可能是由于远离筑巢区的室外人类活动造成的。