Plastic ingestion by green turtles (Chelonia mydas) over 33 years along the coast of Texas, USA

Despite exponential growth of anthropogenic marine debris in recent decades, plastic ingestion by marine turtles in the Gulf of Mexico is not well understood. Gastrointestinal tracts were examined from 464 green turtles that stranded in Texas between 1987 and 2019, and 226 turtles ingested plastic (...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin 2021-12, Vol.173 (Pt B), p.113111-113111, Article 113111
Main Authors: Choi, Daniel Y., Gredzens, Christian, Shaver, Donna J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Anthropogenic factors
Anthropogenic marine debris
Aquatic reptiles
Carapace
Chelonia mydas
Debris ingestion
Eating
Endangered species
Gastrointestinal Tract
Gulf of Mexico
Ingestion
Marine debris
Plastics
Texas
Trash
Turtles
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Summary:Despite exponential growth of anthropogenic marine debris in recent decades, plastic ingestion by marine turtles in the Gulf of Mexico is not well understood. Gastrointestinal tracts were examined from 464 green turtles that stranded in Texas between 1987 and 2019, and 226 turtles ingested plastic (48.7%). This number doubled from 32.5% in 1987–1999 to 65.5% in 2019, but mass of ingested items was lowest in 2019. No turtles showed evidence of death directly related to plastic ingestion. Compared to other regions, plastic ingestion was low. Small turtles (
ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113111