McGill University
B.Sc. candidate
Supervisor: Kyle Elliott
Christina Petalas, PhD student, McGill University, QCBS student member
Start: 2023-05-01
End: 2024-05-17

Project

Diet and ingestion of plastic and non-plastic debris in Herring Gulls
Marine plastic pollution is now ubiquitous and globally irreversible, in even the most remote and sensitive locations on earth. Among most impacted by this environmental problem are seabirds, where most species have been found to regularly ingest plastic debris. Seabird plastic ingestion is known to have many adverse physical impacts (internal abrasions leading to mortality). Beyond physical impacts and of increasing global concern are the toxic synthetic chemicals (plastic pollutants) that can leach out of plastics during plastic digestion. The St. Lawrence system, one of Canada's priority ecosystems, faces increasing anthropogenic pressures and is a critical habitat for over a million seabirds annually. However, the status of plastic pollutants and their associated contaminant effects on seabirds within the St. Lawrence remains unclear. Plastics are not commonly monitored within this system, and marine top predators, like seabirds, can be useful bio-indicators to inform on the status of these pollutants. Therefore, this project will assess plastic pollutant exposure of a susceptible seabird species (the Herring Gull, Larus argentatus), breeding seabirds within the St. Lawrence. Specifically, we want to determine (1) the diet and foraging habitat using pellets and GPS loggers, as well as (2) whether plastics and other types of anthropogenic debris are present in their pellets.

Keywords

seabirds, Plastic, Foraging Ecology, ecotoxicology