Are phthalate ester contaminants in northern fulmar preen oil higher in birds that have ingested more plastic
2020
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.
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