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Quantifying impacts of plastic debris on marine wildlife identifies ecological breakpoints
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Researchers developed a modeling approach to quantify how plastic ingestion affects the growth, reproduction, and population dynamics of marine wildlife, using loggerhead turtles as a test case. They found that having 3-25% plastics in digestive contents could reduce reproductive output by 10-88% compared to unaffected turtles. The study introduces a method for identifying ecological breakpoints where plastic pollution could cause population declines in affected species.
Quantifying sublethal effects of plastics ingestion on marine wildlife is difficult, but key to understanding the ontogeny and population dynamics of affected species. We developed a method that overcomes the difficulties by modelling individual ontogeny under reduced energy intake and expenditure caused by debris ingestion. The predicted ontogeny is combined with a population dynamics model to identify ecological breakpoints: cessation of reproduction or negative population growth. Exemplifying this approach on loggerhead turtles, we find that between 3% and 25% of plastics in digestive contents causes a 2.5-20% reduction in perceived food abundance and total available energy, resulting in a 10-15% lower condition index and 10% to 88% lower total seasonal reproductive output compared to unaffected turtles. The reported plastics ingestion is insufficient to impede sexual maturation, but population declines are possible. The method is readily applicable to other species impacted by debris ingestion.
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Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.