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Changes in plastic ingestion by yellow-legged gulls (Larus michahellis) over the breeding season
Summary
Scientists studying seagulls in France found that nearly 84% of the birds' regurgitated pellets contained plastic, mostly bits of plastic sheeting like bags and wrappers. Interestingly, gulls seemed to eat slightly less plastic-contaminated food right when their chicks hatched, suggesting they instinctively try to feed their young safer meals. This matters for us too: it shows just how deeply plastic pollution has infiltrated wildlife food chains, the same food chains that eventually connect back to the fish and seafood many people eat.
Gulls can be particularly vulnerable to ingesting plastics when using anthropogenic food sources, with potential consequences for survival and reproductive success. Although birds are known to switch foraging habitats over the breeding season to provide higher quality food for chick provisioning, it is unclear what this means regarding the ingestion of plastics. Here, we tested whether breeding gulls decrease the amount of plastic ingested during reproduction by collecting pellets from a series of monitored nests at a large yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) colony in southern France. We found at least one plastic item in 83.9 % of the analyzed pellets, with the most abundant plastic type being polyethylene-based sheet plastic. As predicted, we found a slight decrease in the number of plastic items in pellets at chick hatching. These results suggest that gulls, like other birds, may adjust foraging habits to provide more digestible, less risky, food to chicks.