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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Physiological and Toxicological Effects of Nano/Microplastics on Marine Birds
ClearBirds and plastic pollution: recent advances
This review summarizes how plastic pollution affects birds across both aquatic and terrestrial habitats, covering ingestion, entanglement, and chemical exposure from macro- and microplastics. Researchers found that hundreds of bird species have accumulated plastic in their tissues, with effects ranging from physical injury to hormonal disruption and reproductive harm. The study positions birds as valuable indicator species for monitoring the broader environmental impact of plastic pollution.
Microplastics and the Impact of Plastic on Wildlife: A Literature Review
This review synthesizes evidence on microplastic ingestion and accumulation in seabirds and wildlife, examining the pathways by which microplastics move through marine food webs and the potential physiological harm to upper-trophic predators.
Birds as Bioindicators: Revealing the Widespread Impact of Microplastics
This systematic review found microplastics in over 200 bird species across the globe, from Antarctica to South Europe. Birds can suffer gut damage, oxidative stress, and toxic chemical buildup from ingesting plastics — a warning sign for broader ecosystem and food chain contamination that could affect humans too.
Birds as bioindicators of plastic pollution in terrestrial and freshwater environments: A 30-year review
This 30-year review of 106 studies examines how birds in freshwater and land environments are affected by plastic pollution. Most research has focused on larger plastic pieces, while microplastic exposure in these bird species is understudied and nanoplastic exposure has not been investigated at all. The authors urge researchers to develop standardized methods for measuring small plastic particles in birds, which could serve as valuable warning signs of plastic pollution across ecosystems.
Microplastic ingestion: Are seabirds more affected than other marine species?
This review examines whether seabirds ingest plastic more frequently than other marine species, finding they are among the most affected groups with high rates of plastic ingestion documented across species. The review discusses factors including foraging behavior, habitat, and ocean plastic concentrations that explain why seabirds are particularly vulnerable.
Organ-level translocation and tissue-specific accumulation of micro- and nanoplastics in wild birds
Researchers quantified micro- and nanoplastic burdens across six tissues in ten wild bird species and found that smaller-bodied birds carried higher plastic loads. Nanoplastics showed greater ability to move into internal organs than larger microplastics, and plastic particles were detected in the brain, blood, lungs, and muscle tissue. The study suggests that blood plastic levels could serve as a proxy for internal organ contamination and positions wild birds as potential bioindicators for plastic pollution.
Sublethal consequences of plastic exposure in seabirds
Researchers studied the sublethal effects of macroplastic and microplastic ingestion in flesh-footed shearwaters (seabirds) and found evidence of reduced body condition, altered blood chemistry, and elevated chemical tissue concentrations. The findings suggest that plastic ingestion causes measurable harm to seabirds even below lethal doses, with implications for population health in plastic-polluted marine environments.
Characterization of Plastics Ingested by the Bioindicator Cory’s Shearwater from Tenerife Island (Canary Islands): Implications for Marine Environmental Monitoring
Researchers characterised 674 plastic items found in the stomachs of Cory's shearwater fledglings from the Canary Islands, finding that ingested plastics were predominantly large microplastics (1-5 mm, 82%) with threadlike morphology, and that the birds serve as effective bioindicators of marine plastic pollution in the eastern Atlantic.
Seabirds: studies with parasitofauna and potential indicator for environmental anthropogenic impacts
Seabirds act as environmental sentinels because they accumulate plastic debris, chemical contaminants, and parasites that reflect the health of marine ecosystems. This review calls for seabird monitoring to be integrated with broader marine pollution tracking efforts.
Research progress on occurrence characteristic and toxicity of microplastics in marine organisms
This review summarizes how microplastics are ingested, distributed, and cause harm in a wide range of marine organisms, including fish, invertebrates, and seabirds. The accumulation of microplastics in marine food webs is directly relevant to human health, as these particles can reach humans through seafood consumption.
Plastic debris in bird nests: sources, ecological impacts, and bioindicator potential for monitoring microplastic pollution
This review examines how birds increasingly use plastic debris as nesting material, and the ecological consequences of this behavior. Researchers found that the most common plastics in nests are polypropylene and polyethylene, which fragment into smaller pieces over time, exposing birds to entanglement, ingestion, and toxic chemical additives. The study suggests that birds can serve as useful bioindicators for monitoring the extent of microplastic pollution in their surrounding environments.
Review: Monitoring to conservation: The science–policy nexus of plastics and seabirds — R1/PR6
This is a peer review recommendation document for a review article on marine microplastic toxicology that covers bioaccumulation and biological impacts across multiple marine organism groups. The underlying review is relevant to understanding the environmental and potential human health risks posed by microplastics in the ocean. As a peer review artefact, it is not original research but indicates the paper is part of a rigorous scientific publication process.
Seabirds as indicators of distribution, trends and population level effects of plastics in the Arctic marine environment. Workshop Report
This workshop report examines the use of seabirds as indicators of plastic and microplastic pollution in Arctic marine environments, summarizing current monitoring methods and knowledge gaps. Seabirds accumulate plastics through ingestion, making them useful sentinels for tracking pollution trends.
Ecotoxicological Impacts of Micro and Nanoplastics on Marine Fauna
This review examines the ecotoxicological impacts of micro- and nanoplastics on marine fauna, detailing how these particles enter food chains through ingestion, accumulate across trophic levels, and cause physical and chemical harm including oxidative stress, inflammation, reproductive disruption, and mortality. The authors highlight the compounding threat when plastics act as vectors for adsorbed pollutants.
The hidden cost of following currents: Microplastic ingestion in a planktivorous seabird
Researchers documented microplastic ingestion in Mediterranean storm petrels, finding that these planktivorous seabirds ingest microplastics while foraging in pelagic areas where plastic debris accumulates alongside their planktonic prey in ocean currents.
Contamination of coastal and marine bird species with plastics: Global analysis and synthesis
This review summarizes global data on plastic contamination in coastal and marine bird species across all seven continents, finding that seabirds like fulmars, shearwaters, and albatrosses are the most heavily affected. Birds ingest microplastics, mesoplastics, and macroplastics that can cause death directly through gut blockage and indirectly through toxic chemicals absorbed onto or released from the plastic. Several contaminated species are already classified as endangered.
Assessing the risks of marine debris ingestion to Procellariiform seabirds
This study assessed the risks of marine debris ingestion for Procellariiform seabirds — one of the world's most threatened bird groups — finding that plastic ingestion poses significant risks to health and survival. The analysis highlights how plastic pollution interacts with other stressors affecting globally threatened seabird species.
Feasting on microplastics: ingestion by and effects on marine organisms
This review synthesizes experimental studies on microplastic ingestion and effects across a wide range of marine organisms, finding evidence of physical harm, reproductive effects, and reduced feeding in multiple taxa. The paper provides a comprehensive overview of the biological consequences of microplastic ingestion and identifies key knowledge gaps for future research.
Exposure to microplastics by pelagic and coastal seabirds from temperate and tropical environments
Researchers examined microplastic exposure in pelagic and coastal seabird species from temperate and tropical marine environments, using the birds' broad spatial distribution and feeding behavior to assess microplastic distribution and concentration patterns across oceanic regions.
Assessing microplastic and nanoplastic contamination in bird lungs: evidence of ecological risks and bioindicator potential
Researchers examined the lungs of 51 bird species and found microplastics in all of them, averaging over 400 particles per gram of lung tissue, with nanoplastics also detected in five species tested. Birds may serve as early warning indicators of airborne plastic pollution, and the widespread contamination of their lungs suggests that humans breathing the same air face similar exposure risks.
Microplastics in full view: Birds as bioindicators of Malta's coastal ecosystem health
This study used coastal water birds as bioindicators to assess microplastic contamination along Malta's Mediterranean coastline, finding microplastics in multiple bird species. The approach demonstrates how wildlife monitoring can provide a practical method for tracking regional marine pollution levels.
Micro- and mesoplastic contaminants in marine diving ducks: A first assessments from the coast of Japan
Researchers conducted the first assessment of plastic contamination in two species of mollusk-eating seaducks wintering along Japan's Pacific coast and found microplastics in all ten birds examined. The vast majority of particles were tiny fragments under 200 micrometers, a size class previously overlooked in seaduck studies, suggesting these birds ingest microplastics primarily through their contaminated prey.
Size and dynamics of microplastic in gastrointestinal tracts of Northern Fulmars ( Fulmarus glacialis ) and Sooty Shearwaters ( Ardenna grisea )
Researchers examined microplastic in the gastrointestinal tracts of 143 Northern Fulmars and 25 Sooty Shearwaters stranded on Oregon and Washington beaches, finding plastic in 89.5% and 64% of birds respectively, with larger particles concentrated in the stomach's upper chamber and no significant reduction in plastic load in birds held in a plastic-free rehabilitation environment for up to seven days.
Microplastics in the marine environment: Current trends in environmental pollution and mechanisms of toxicological profile
This review examines current trends in marine microplastic pollution and the mechanisms through which these particles cause toxicity in marine organisms. Researchers found that microplastics can cause physical damage to digestive tracts, transfer absorbed chemical pollutants to tissues, and trigger inflammatory and oxidative stress responses. The study highlights the growing scale of the problem as global plastic production continues to rise.