Exploring the pathology of liver, kidney, muscle, and stomach of fledgling seabirds associated with plastic ingestion.
J Hazard Mater
; 465: 133306, 2024 03 05.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38147759
ABSTRACT
There remain significant gaps in knowledge about 'sub-lethal' impacts of plastic ingestion, particularly chronic impacts on cells, tissues, or organs. Few studies have applied traditional animal health tools, such as histopathology, to assess physiological damage to wildlife, with fewer still providing information on the dosage or exposure to plastics needed to elicit negative effects. Our study seeks to investigate a common hypothesis in plastic pollution research; that an increasing plastics burden will have an impact on an animal's health, examining two wild species with high levels of environmental exposure to plastic through their diet. Here we assess the histopathology of the muscle, upper digestive tract, liver and kidney of two seabird species that are known to be commonly exposed to plastic, comparing exposed and non-exposed individuals. Fledgling seabirds showed histopathological evidence of cumulative pressures such as starvation, disease, and endoparasite burden. However, we observed no evidence of chronic harm that could be explicitly linked to the plastics. We found one case of haemorrhage, reaffirming that large/sharp plastic foreign bodies may cause acute physical damage. Given the numerous interacting pressures on the health of fledging seabirds, including exposure to plastic, this study highlights the need to scrutinise plastic-animal interactions and research though a One Health lens.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Contexto em Saúde:
12_ODS3_hazardous_contamination
/
2_ODS3
Problema de saúde:
12_water_sanitation_hygiene
/
2_quimicos_contaminacion
Assunto principal:
Poluentes Químicos da Água
/
Aves
Limite:
Animals
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Hazard Mater
Assunto da revista:
SAUDE AMBIENTAL
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article