Interactions between marine megafauna and plastic pollution in Southeast Asia

Interactions between marine megafauna and plastic pollution in Southeast Asia

Southeast (SE) Asia is a highly biodiverse region, yet it is also estimated to cumulatively contribute a third of the total global marine plastic pollution. This threat is known to have adverse impacts on marine megafauna, however, understanding of its impacts has recently been highlighted as a prio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science of the total environment Vol. 874; p. 162502
Main Authors: Omeyer, Lucy C.M., Duncan, Emily M., Abreo, Neil Angelo S., Acebes, Jo Marie V., AngSinco-Jimenez, Lea A., Anuar, Sabiqah T., Aragones, Lemnuel V., Araujo, Gonzalo, Carrasco, Luis R., Chua, Marcus A.H., Cordova, Muhammad R., Dewanti, Lantun P., Espiritu, Emilyn Q., Garay, Jovanie B., Germanov, Elitza S., Getliff, Jade, Horcajo-Berna, Eva, Ibrahim, Yusof S., Jaafar, Zeehan, Janairo, Jose Isagani B., Gyi, Thanda Ko, Kreb, Danielle, Lim, Cheng Ling, Lyons, Youna, Mustika, Putu L.K., Neo, Mei Lin, Ng, Sirius Z.H., Pasaribu, Buntora, Pariatamby, Agamuthu, Peter, Cindy, Porter, Lindsay, Purba, Noir P., Santa Cruz, Ernesto T., Shams, Shahriar, Thompson, Kirsten F., Torres, Daniel S., Westerlaken, Rodney, Wongtawan, Tuempong, Godley, Brendan J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 20-05-2023
Subjects:
ALDFG
Animals
Asia, Southeastern
Caniformia
Cetacea
Ecosystem
Entanglement
Environmental Monitoring
Ingestion
Marine debris
Marine litter
Plastic debris
Plastics
Waste Products - analysis
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
Water Pollution
Asia, Southeastern
Entanglement
Plastic debris
ALDFG
Marine litter
Marine debris
Ingestion
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Summary:Southeast (SE) Asia is a highly biodiverse region, yet it is also estimated to cumulatively contribute a third of the total global marine plastic pollution. This threat is known to have adverse impacts on marine megafauna, however, understanding of its impacts has recently been highlighted as a priority for research in the region. To address this knowledge gap, a structured literature review was conducted for species of cartilaginous fishes, marine mammals, marine reptiles, and seabirds present in SE Asia, collating cases on a global scale to allow for comparison, coupled with a regional expert elicitation to gather additional published and grey literature cases which would have been omitted during the structured literature review. Of the 380 marine megafauna species present in SE Asia, but also studied elsewhere, we found that 9.1 % and 4.5 % of all publications documenting plastic entanglement (n = 55) and ingestion (n = 291) were conducted in SE Asian countries. At the species level, published cases of entanglement from SE Asian countries were available for 10 % or less of species within each taxonomic group. Additionally, published ingestion cases were available primarily for marine mammals and were lacking entirely for seabirds in the region. The regional expert elicitation led to entanglement and ingestion cases from SE Asian countries being documented in 10 and 15 additional species respectively, highlighting the utility of a broader approach to data synthesis. While the scale of the plastic pollution in SE Asia is of particular concern for marine ecosystems, knowledge of its interactions and impacts on marine megafauna lags behind other areas of the world, even after the inclusion of a regional expert elicitation. Additional funding to help collate baseline data are critically needed to inform policy and solutions towards limiting the interactions of marine megafauna and plastic pollution in SE Asia. [Display omitted] •Marine plastic-wildlife interactions identified as a research priority in SE Asia•Combined a structured literature review with a regional expert elicitation•Knowledge of marine pollution impacts on marine megafauna in SE Asia lags behind.•Many entanglement/ingestion cases remain in the grey literature in the region.•Additional baseline data critically needed to inform policy/solutions in SE Asia
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162502