Poster Presentation Australian Marine Sciences Association 2025 Conference

Marine debris: An ecological trap for nest building flightless cormorants (Phalacrocorax harrisi) in the Galápagos Archipelago. (#145)

Alice Skehel 1 , Dominique Potvin 1 , Juan Pablo Muñoz Pérez 2 , Carlos Valle 2 , Gregory Lewbart 2 3 , Gustavo Jimenez-Uzcátegui 4 , Kathy Townsend 1
  1. School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, QLD, Australia
  2. Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales COCIBA and Galápagos Science Center GSC, University of San Francisco Quito, Quito, Ecuador
  3. Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
  4. Charles Darwin Foundation, Puerto Ayora, Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

Marine pollution is a global problem, with the recent United Nations Environmental Protection report (2021) highlighting its far reaching environmental, social, and human-health impacts. Due to oceanic processes,  wildlife hotspots often concur with marine pollution. Seabirds are key indicators of this interaction, acting as sentinels as they utilize these pollution hotspots naturally throughout their life history. While there is much research done at the individual level, the impact that non-lethal impacts pollution has at the population level is not yet fully understood. Based within the Galápagos Islands, we used non-invasive methods to identify how pollution impacts the key drivers of population success of the endemic flightless cormorant (Phalacrocorax harrisi). Methods include: Monitoring reproductive behaviour and hatchling success relative to macro-plastic loads found within nesting and foraging habitats; Identifying microplastic levels in guano and the surrounding environment; Identifying persistent organic pollutants in feathers and preen oil; and lastly identifying health implications by monitoring general health, body condition, ectoparasite load, growth rates, and longevity. Early results indicate that only 8% of cormorant nests contain debris, and that they consisted mostly of rope and fibres (72%) and soft plastic bag/fragments (24%), and that both adult and chicks interact directly with these objects.