Abstract
Plastic pollution is a modern tragedy of the commons, with hundreds of species affected by society's waste. Birds in particular mistake plastic for prey, and millions of wild birds carry small plastic loads in their stomach and are exposed to potential toxicological effects. It is currently unknown how severely the toxicological and endocrine disrupting chemicals in plastic affect avian development, reproduction and endocrine function. To address this question, we conducted multi-generational plastic feeding experiments to test the toxicological consequences of plastic ingestion at environmentally relevant loads in Japanese quail, Coturnix japonica, investigating parental and two filial generations. Contrary to expectations, we found no evidence of lasting toxicological effects on mortality, adult body weight, organ histology, hormone levels, fertility, hatch rates and eggshell strength in birds experimentally fed plastic. However, we found plastic ingestion causes higher frequencies of male reproductive cysts and minor delays in chick growth and sexual maturity, though without affecting ultimate survival or reproductive output. We report that although plastic ingestion causes detectable endocrine effects in our model species, our lack of finding mortality, morbidity and adverse reproductive outcomes may challenge the common hypothesis of severe toxicological harm and population-level effects when environmentally relevant loads of plastic are ingested.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 660-667 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Science of the Total Environment |
| Volume | 665 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 15 2019 |
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Keywords
- Endocrine disruption
- Japanese quail
- Marine debris
- Toxicology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Engineering
- Environmental Chemistry
- Waste Management and Disposal
- Pollution
Cite this
Is plastic ingestion in birds as toxic as we think? Insights from a plastic feeding experiment. / Roman, Lauren; Lowenstine, Linda J; Parsley, Laura Maeve; Wilcox, Chris; Hardesty, Britta Denise; Gilardi, Kirsten Vk; Hindell, Mark.
In: Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 665, 15.05.2019, p. 660-667.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Is plastic ingestion in birds as toxic as we think? Insights from a plastic feeding experiment
AU - Roman, Lauren
AU - Lowenstine, Linda J
AU - Parsley, Laura Maeve
AU - Wilcox, Chris
AU - Hardesty, Britta Denise
AU - Gilardi, Kirsten Vk
AU - Hindell, Mark
PY - 2019/5/15
Y1 - 2019/5/15
N2 - Plastic pollution is a modern tragedy of the commons, with hundreds of species affected by society's waste. Birds in particular mistake plastic for prey, and millions of wild birds carry small plastic loads in their stomach and are exposed to potential toxicological effects. It is currently unknown how severely the toxicological and endocrine disrupting chemicals in plastic affect avian development, reproduction and endocrine function. To address this question, we conducted multi-generational plastic feeding experiments to test the toxicological consequences of plastic ingestion at environmentally relevant loads in Japanese quail, Coturnix japonica, investigating parental and two filial generations. Contrary to expectations, we found no evidence of lasting toxicological effects on mortality, adult body weight, organ histology, hormone levels, fertility, hatch rates and eggshell strength in birds experimentally fed plastic. However, we found plastic ingestion causes higher frequencies of male reproductive cysts and minor delays in chick growth and sexual maturity, though without affecting ultimate survival or reproductive output. We report that although plastic ingestion causes detectable endocrine effects in our model species, our lack of finding mortality, morbidity and adverse reproductive outcomes may challenge the common hypothesis of severe toxicological harm and population-level effects when environmentally relevant loads of plastic are ingested.
AB - Plastic pollution is a modern tragedy of the commons, with hundreds of species affected by society's waste. Birds in particular mistake plastic for prey, and millions of wild birds carry small plastic loads in their stomach and are exposed to potential toxicological effects. It is currently unknown how severely the toxicological and endocrine disrupting chemicals in plastic affect avian development, reproduction and endocrine function. To address this question, we conducted multi-generational plastic feeding experiments to test the toxicological consequences of plastic ingestion at environmentally relevant loads in Japanese quail, Coturnix japonica, investigating parental and two filial generations. Contrary to expectations, we found no evidence of lasting toxicological effects on mortality, adult body weight, organ histology, hormone levels, fertility, hatch rates and eggshell strength in birds experimentally fed plastic. However, we found plastic ingestion causes higher frequencies of male reproductive cysts and minor delays in chick growth and sexual maturity, though without affecting ultimate survival or reproductive output. We report that although plastic ingestion causes detectable endocrine effects in our model species, our lack of finding mortality, morbidity and adverse reproductive outcomes may challenge the common hypothesis of severe toxicological harm and population-level effects when environmentally relevant loads of plastic are ingested.
KW - Endocrine disruption
KW - Japanese quail
KW - Marine debris
KW - Toxicology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85061586504&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85061586504&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.184
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.184
M3 - Article
C2 - 30776638
AN - SCOPUS:85061586504
VL - 665
SP - 660
EP - 667
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
SN - 0048-9697
ER -