Are phthalate ester contaminants in northern fulmar preen oil higher in birds that have ingested more plastic

Abstract Understanding the impacts of plastic pollutionis a global research priority. Previous research has shown that plasticizerssuch as phthalateesters detected in seabirdtissues can be useful non-lethal biochemical markers of plasticingestion as compared with more standard necropsy techniques. We examined the concentrations of six phthalateesters in the preen oil of Northern Fulmars(Fulmarus glacialis) in relation to their retained plastics. Contrary to a previous study, we found that the phthalatesexamined were not analytically detectable in fulmarpreen oil. Given that the birds we examined had up to 100 pieces of plasticsin their stomachs, and all uropygial glandswere completely emptied during the necropsies, it does not appear that measuring phthalatesin preen oil of Northern Fulmarsis a useful, non-lethal technique to determine if individuals ingest plastics, at least not currently given the available commercial analytical detection limits.