My interest in conservation and the ocean goes back to my childhood; I grew up on the beach in Cornwall and loved being outdoors, surrounded by nature. I first started working in conservation in 2013 when I moved to Australia to work for the Australian Wildlife Conservancy: a not for profit organisation established to conserve Australian native species and the habitats in which they live. To formalise my passion for wildlife, predominantly birds, I returned to the UK in 2016 to complete my bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Conservation. As part of my degree, I carried out this research into microplastics in seabirds for my honours dissertation.
Plastic has become the planet’s most ubiquitous form of modern pollution and microplastics are at the forefront of scientific interest and research combatting plastic pollution. The marine environment is believed to be the worst affected ecosystem globally and all marine organisms are susceptible to deleterious consequences from microplastic pollution through ingestion or entanglement. Seabirds are well-studied taxa that suffer negative consequences due to ingesting microplastics.
Australian pelican, Tern Island, Western Australia, 2018. Photo credit: Isabel Connell
Currently, invasive methods used to determine whether different seabird species are ingesting plastic include post mortem gut analysis and stomach flushing. As a less invasive alternative, this research analysed guano (seabird faeces) to identify microplastics. This research involved designing a simplified, replicable method to extract plastic from guano in the laboratory, and applied it to guano collected from four species across different sites in Australia; Australian pelicans, shy albatross, brown boobies and red-tailed tropicbirds.
Analysis showed all species samples contained microplastics, including a section of fishing line and drinking straw. Overall, samples from tropicbirds contained the most microplastics followed by albatross, pelican and finally booby and probability graphs signified different levels of microplastics present may be linked to seabird migratory movements, feeding guilds and geographical location.
Red-tailed tropic-booby sample with straw and fishing line. Photo credit: Isabel Connell
This research contributes to recent studies highlighting the importance of protecting seabird species from microplastic ingestion and their role as indicators of ocean health and environmental monitors and emphasises the need for further research into the transport of microplastics through seabird excrement as a method of environmental monitoring.
Furthermore, it reiterates the importance to reduce plastic use, especially single-use plastics, as it has irreversible negative impacts on our wildlife.
Australian darter, Tern Island, Western Australia, 2018. Photo credit: Isabel Connell