Universität zu Köln

Leistenschneider, Clara ORCID: 0000-0002-2350-5939, Le Bohec, Celine, Eisen, Olaf, Houstin, Aymeric, Neff, Simon, Primpke, Sebastian, Zitterbart, Daniel P., Burkhardt-Holm, Patricia and Gerdts, Gunnar (2022). No evidence of microplastic ingestion in emperor penguin chicks (Aptenodytes forsteri) from the Atka Bay colony (Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica). Sci. Total Environ., 851. AMSTERDAM: ELSEVIER. ISSN 1879-1026

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Abstract

Microplastic (<5 mm; MP) pollution has been an emerging threat for marine ecosystems around the globe with increas-ing evidence that even the world's most remote areas, including Antarctica, are no longer unaffected. Few studies how-ever, have examined MP in Antarctic biota, and especially those from Antarctic regions with low human activity, meaning little is known about the extent to which biota are affected. The aim of this study was to investigate, for the first time, the occurrence of MP in the emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri), the only penguin species breeding around Antarctica during the austral winter, and an endemic apex predator in the Southern Ocean. To assess MP inges-tion, the gizzards of 41 emperor penguin chicks from Atka Bay colony (Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica), were dis-sected and analyzed for MP >500 mu m using Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier-transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. A total of 85 putative particles, mostly in the shape of fibers (65.9 %), were sorted. However, none of the particles were identified as MP applying state-of-the-art methodology. Sorted fibers were further evidenced to orig-inate from contamination during sample processing and analyses. We find that MP concentrations in the local food web of the Weddell Sea and Dronning Maud Land coastal and marginal sea-ice regions; the feeding grounds to chick-rearing emperor penguin adults, are currently at such low levels that no detectable biomagnification is occurring via trophic transfer. Being in contrast to MP studies on other Antarctic and sub-Antarctic penguin species, our compar-ative discussion including these studies, highlights the importance for standardized procedures for sampling, sample processing and analyses to obtain comparable results. We further discuss other stomach contents and their potential role for MP detection, as well as providing a baseline for the long-term monitoring of MP in apex predator species from this region.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Leistenschneider, Clara UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-2350-5939 UNSPECIFIED Le Bohec, Celine UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Eisen, Olaf UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Houstin, Aymeric UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Neff, Simon UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Primpke, Sebastian UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Zitterbart, Daniel P. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Burkhardt-Holm, Patricia UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Gerdts, Gunnar UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-691636
DOI:	10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158314
Journal or Publication Title:	Sci. Total Environ.
Volume:	851
Date:	2022
Publisher:	ELSEVIER
Place of Publication:	AMSTERDAM
ISSN:	1879-1026
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language EASTERN WEDDELL SEA; ROSS SEA; FORAGING ECOLOGY; PROTECTED AREA; CLIMATE-CHANGE; MAWSON COAST; DIET; CONTAMINATION; POLLUTION; BIOACCUMULATION Multiple languages Environmental Sciences Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/69163