Baseline Plastic and metal ingestion in three species of coastal waterfowl wintering in Atlantic Canada Matthew D. English a,⇑ , Gregory J. Robertson b , Stephanie Avery-Gomm b , Donald Pirie-Hay b , Sheena Roul b , Pierre C. Ryan c , Sabina I. Wilhelm c , Mark L. Mallory a a Department of Biology, Acadia University, Wolfville, NS B4P 2R6, Canada b Wildlife Research Division, Environment Canada, 6 Bruce Street, Mount Pearl, NL A1N 4T3, Canada c Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, 6 Bruce Street, Mount Pearl, NL A1N 4T3, Canada article info Article history: Received 9 April 2015 Revised 26 May 2015 Accepted 28 May 2015 Available online xxxx Keywords: Plastic ingestion Metal ingestion Mallard American black duck Common eider Waterfowl abstract Relatively little attention has been paid to the occurrence of anthropogenic debris found in coastal spe- cies, especially waterfowl. We examined the incidence of ingested plastic and metal in three waterfowl species wintering in Atlantic Canada: American black ducks (Anas rubripes) and mallards (A. platyrhyn- chos), two species that use marine and freshwater coastal habitats for foraging in the winter, and com- mon eider (Somateria mollissima), a coastal marine species that feeds on intertidal and subtidal benthic organisms. Plastic was found in the stomachs of 46.1% (6/13) of mallards and 6.9% (6/87) of black ducks, the first report of ingested anthropogenic debris in these species, while 2.1% (1/48) of eider stomachs con- tained plastic. Metal was found in the stomachs of 30.8% (4/13) of mallards, 2.3% (2/87) of black ducks, and in 2.1% (1/48) of eiders. Our results indicate that species using coastal marine and freshwater envi- ronments are exposed to and ingest anthropogenic debris. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Debris in the marine environment has been identified as one of the leading threats to the health of the world’s oceans (UNEP, 2011), and emerging evidence suggests that freshwater systems are similarly affected (Eriksen et al., 2013; Driedger et al., 2015). In 2010, it was estimated that 4.8–12.7 million metric tons of plas- tic entered the ocean from land-based sources, and if waste man- agement practices do not improve on a global scale, this number could increase by an order of magnitude by 2025 (Jambeck et al., 2015). Plastics and other debris enter aquatic systems through direct or accidental dumping, and transport from land by wind or mis- management of waste disposal (Jambeck et al., 2015). Most plastics that enter aquatic systems are broken down through physical and chemical stress into small fragments that persist in the environ- ment, and many surface-feeding animals experience high rates of plastic ingestion in areas of high plastic contamination. The occur- rence of plastics in many surface-feeding pelagic seabirds in Canadian waters has been recently summarized (Avery-Gomm et al., 2013; Provencher et al., 2014a,b), and is an issue garnering considerable media attention in Canada. Detrimental effects of plastic ingestion include impaction and physical damage to the digestive tract (Gregory, 2009; van Franeker et al., 2011). As well, plastics can adsorb high concentra- tions of organic contaminants and may act as vectors for contam- inant transfer into marine food webs, when plastics are ingested (Mato et al., 2001; Teuten et al., 2009). Negative effects of plastic-related organic contaminants has not yet been explicitly shown in birds, but has been demonstrated in fish (Rochman et al., 2013). Lead and steel shot is the most reported type of non-plastic anthropogenic debris ingested by waterfowl (Mateo et al., 1998; Moore et al., 1998; Pain, 1990), and reports of other types of metal ingested by waterfowl are limited (e.g., whooping crane Grus americana research by Olsen and Wise, 2001). Lead poi- soning as a result of lead shot ingestion has been well-documented, and in many cases lead to the death of the organism. While numerous studies have focused on debris in the marine environment, comparatively little attention has been paid to the occurrence of anthropogenic debris in freshwater systems (Wagner et al., 2014; Driedger et al., 2015). In the Laurentian Great Lakes, microplastics reach surface concentrations as high or higher than some ocean gyres (Eriksen et al., 2013; Driedger et al., 2015). Remote lakes are also susceptible to plastic contami- nation, and in some cases can be more polluted than the Great http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.05.063 0025-326X/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: matthew.english@acadiau.ca (M.D. English). Marine Pollution Bulletin xxx (2015) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Marine Pollution Bulletin journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpolbul Please cite this article in press as: English, M.D., et al. Plastic and metal ingestion in three species of coastal waterfowl wintering in Atlantic Canada. Mar. Pollut. Bull. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.05.063