High frequency of micro- and meso-plastics ingestion in a sample of neonate sea turtles from a major rookery
June 2021 | ScienceDirect
Highlights:
Ingested plastics by turtles included microplastics (< 5 mm) and larger sizes up to 25% of turtles’ carapace length
Spectroscopy revealed that all subsampled plastics were of polyethylene origin
Potential lethal effects we observed included intestinal impaction and gut perforation
We conclude that turtles begin ingesting plastics immediately upon feeding, and continue ingesting plastics as they grow
Evidence points to plastics ingestion being a major source of population-level effects in neonate sea turtles
