Arctic Seabirds and Microplastics
W hen
people think about plastic pollution, the images that are usually imagined are large swaths of plastic floating in the ocean, species such as turtles suffocating on straws, images of seabirds such as albatrosses with stomachs full of plastic, or beaches covered in garbage. However, not all examples of plastic pollution are easily visible. Microplastics are defined as pieces of plastic that are five millimeters or smaller, and can be either primary (originally produced as pieces of such a size) or secondary (tiny pieces that came from larger plastic objects). In some situations, microplastics can be more dangerous and easily dispersed than their larger pieces, resulting in them showing up in some peculiar places, such as Arctic seabird guano. Despite the Arctic being relatively separate in location to the places
where plastic pollution originates, plastic is still carried into Arctic ecosystems. This can be from currents carrying the plastic, organisms carrying plastic inside of them moving into the Arctic, litter from ships such as shipping vessels that are traveling through the Canadian Arctic, or other sources. Seabirds such as fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) in the Qaqulluit National Wildlife Area in the Canadian Arctic have been found by researchers from
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by Harry Kim Texas, USA
