Microplastics are Messing With the Microbiomes of Seabirds

upstart writes:

Microplastics are messing with the microbiomes of seabirds:

To find out if the microbes being introduced might be "good" or "bad," Fackelmann and her colleagues analyzed the microbiomes and looked up individual types of microbes in databases to learn what they do. They found that with more plastic, there were more microbes that are known to break down plastic. There were also more microbes that are known to be resistant to antibiotics and more with the potential to cause disease.

Fackelmann and her colleagues didn't assess the health of the birds, so they don't know if these microbes might have been making them unwell. "But if you accumulate pathogens and antibiotic-resistant microbes in your digestive system, that's clearly not great," says Wagner.

The study, which was published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, shows that the levels of plastic already present in the environment are enough to affect animals' microbiomes, says Fackelmann. The next step is to work out what this might mean for their health and the health of other animals, including humans, she says.

"When I read [the study], I thought about the whales we find beached with kilograms of plastic debris found in their bellies," says Wagner. "It's probably quite comparable to what birds have in their digestive systems, so it would be interesting to know if this happens in whales, dolphins, [and other marine animals] as well."

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