Ingested plastics reduce recruitment and survival of an Australian seabird.

Authors

Jennifer L Lavers, Hannah Worthington, Alexander L Bond

Published in

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Volume 123. Issue 34. Pages e2613782123. Aug 25, 2026. Epub Aug 17, 2026.

Abstract

Plastics research lags 30 y behind many other environmental crises, with population-level impacts alluded to but not yet demonstrated for any wild species. Addressing this "Grand Challenge" requires robust data that span many years of variable exposure. Here, we use 15 y of mark-recapture data to estimate plastics' impact on the demography of Sable Shearwaters (Ardenna carneipes). We found that the ingestion of >1 g of plastic is common and associated with at least an 11% reduction in the probability of birds surviving to return and breed at their natal island, with birds that ingested >5 g of plastic almost never seen again. In a time of unprecedented planetary change and biodiversity collapse, these results provide much-needed insight into plastics' role in potentially driving species decline.

PMID:
42607211
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 18 Aug 2026.

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