The DOI matches its Crossref record; 83 of the 84 references it cites were found in a registry or an index, and 1 are not checked yet.
Plastic contamination of a Galapagos Island (Ecuador) and the relative risks to native marine species
Open accessAbstract
Ecuador's Galapagos Islands and their unique biodiversity are a global conservation priority. We explored the presence, composition and environmental drivers of plastic contamination across the marine ecosystem at an island scale, investigated uptake in marine invertebrates and designed a systematic priority scoring analysis to identify the most vulnerable vertebrate species. Beach contamination varied by site (macroplastic 0–0.66 items·m−2, microplastics 0–448.8 particles·m−2 or 0–74.6 particles·kg−1), with high plastic accumulation on east-facing beaches that are influenced by the Humboldt Current. Local littering and waste management leakages accounted for just 2% of macroplastic. Microplastics (including anthropogenic cellulosics) were ubiquitous but in low concentrations in benthic sediments (6.7–86.7 particles·kg−1) and surface seawater (0.04–0.89 particles·m−3), with elevated concentrations in the harbour suggesting some local input. Microplastics were present in all seven marine invertebrate species examined, found in 52% of individuals (n = 123) confirming uptake of microplastics in the Galapagos marine food web. Priority scoring analysis combining species distribution information, IUCN Red List conservation status and literature evidence of harm from entanglement and ingestion of plastics in similar species identified 27 marine vertebrates in need of urgent, targeted monitoring and mitigation including pinnipeds, seabirds, turtles and sharks.
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“Recent studies have highlighted presence of microplastics in the archipelago [44, 45]”
From Modelling microplastic bioaccumulation and biomagnification potential in the Galápagos penguin ecosystem using Ecopath and Ecosim (EwE) with Ecotracer (2024) · cites this paper as [44]
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“This species faces several challenges from intense El Niño events and ocean warming [48, 49] to ocean plastics [44].”
From Modelling microplastic bioaccumulation and biomagnification potential in the Galápagos penguin ecosystem using Ecopath and Ecosim (EwE) with Ecotracer (2024) · cites this paper as [44]
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Cites
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Research works printed but not linked: 1
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Sorted by citations
Animal exposure to microplastics and health effects: A review
Jeong, E., Lee, J., & Redwan, M. (2024) · Emerging contaminants · doi:10.1016/j.emcon.2024.100369 · Cited by 203
Blanks and bias in microplastic research: Implications for future quality assurance
Shruti, V. C., & Kutralam-Muniasamy, G. (2023) · Trends in Environmental Analytical Chemistry · doi:10.1016/j.teac.2023.e00203 · Cited by 156
Microplastic contamination in seawater across global marine protected areas boundaries
Nunes, B. Z., Huang, Y., Ribeiro, V. V., Wu, S., Holbech, H., Moreira, L. B., Xu, E. G., & Castro, Í. B. (2022) · Environmental Pollution · doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120692 · Cited by 141
Porter, A., Godbold, J. A., Lewis, C. N., Savage, G., Solan, M., & Galloway, T. S. (2023) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-023-43788-w · Cited by 113
“…105 tohelp smooth the interpolated model, although we acknowledge that high levels of spatial heterogeneity can occur 106 due to horizontal separation of particles associated with biogeographical context 107,108 , and particle size class 109 , density 104 , and morphology 102,110 .”
Lara, L. Z., Bertoldi, C., Alves, N. M., & Fernandes, A. N. (2021) · The Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148983 · Cited by 88
Metadata
- Authors
- Jones, J. S., Porter, A., Muñoz-Pérez, J. P., Alarcón-Ruales, D., Galloway, T. S., Godley, B. J., Santillo, D., Vagg, J., & Lewis, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Exeter (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Lewis, Ceri
- Venue
- Science of The Total Environment
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-10
- Volume
- 789
- Pages
- 147704
- ISSN
- 0048-9697 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3161752573
- Cited by
- 118
- References
- 84
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 6
- FWCI
- 4.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Science of The Total Environment (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Open Research Exeter (University of Exeter) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Greater South Information System
- Funders
- Royal Geographical Society
- Natural Environment Research Council
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Turtle Biology and Conservation
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Coastal Fisheries and Human Impacts
- Keywords
- plastic pollution, microplastics, macroplastics, Galápagos Islands, marine invertebrates, plastic ingestion, entanglement, Humboldt Current, beach litter, benthic sediments, marine food webs, marine vertebrates, pinnipeds, seabirds, sea turtles, sharks, marine conservation
- MeSH terms
- Ecuador, Environmental Monitoring, Plastics, Risk, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Ecosystem
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