We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Current levels of microplastic pollution impact wild seabird gut microbiomes
Summary
Researchers studied wild seabirds and found that the amount of microplastics in their guts was linked to significant changes in their gut bacteria. Birds with more microplastics had fewer beneficial bacteria and more harmful ones, including disease-causing and antibiotic-resistant species. This is one of the first studies to show that real-world microplastic exposure is already altering gut microbiomes in wild animals.
Microplastics contaminate environments worldwide and are ingested by numerous species, whose health is affected in multiple ways. A key dimension of health that may be affected is the gut microbiome, but these effects are relatively unexplored. Here, we investigated if microplastics are associated with changes in proventricular and cloacal microbiomes in two seabird species that chronically ingest microplastics: northern fulmars and Cory's shearwaters. The amount of microplastics in the gut was significantly correlated with gut microbial diversity and composition: microplastics were associated with decreases in commensal microbiota and increases in (zoonotic) pathogens and antibiotic-resistant and plastic-degrading microbes. These results illustrate that environmentally relevant microplastic concentrations and mixtures are associated with changes in gut microbiomes in wild seabirds.