Current Levels of Microplastic Pollution Impact Wild Seabird Gut Microbiomes

Overview

Journal Nat Ecol Evol

Publisher Springer Nature

Specialty Biology

Date 2023 Mar 27

PMID 36973353

Authors

Gloria Fackelmann

Christopher K Pham

Yasmina Rodriguez

Mark L Mallory

Jennifer F Provencher

Julia E Baak

Simone Sommer

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Microplastics contaminate environments worldwide and are ingested by numerous species, whose health is affected in multiple ways. A key dimension of health that may be affected is the gut microbiome, but these effects are relatively unexplored. Here, we investigated if microplastics are associated with changes in proventricular and cloacal microbiomes in two seabird species that chronically ingest microplastics: northern fulmars and Cory's shearwaters. The amount of microplastics in the gut was significantly correlated with gut microbial diversity and composition: microplastics were associated with decreases in commensal microbiota and increases in (zoonotic) pathogens and antibiotic-resistant and plastic-degrading microbes. These results illustrate that environmentally relevant microplastic concentrations and mixtures are associated with changes in gut microbiomes in wild seabirds.

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