Gulls as potential sentinels for urban litter: combining nest and GPS-tracking information.

ABSTRACT: The production of urban waste has increased in the past decades leading to its mishandling. The effects on public health, economy, and wildlife that waste mismanagement can have are forcing governments to increase their efforts in detecting and mitigating the presence of waste. Identifying and monitoring sentinel species to assess the presence of urban litter could be a cost-effective option. Thus, analyzing the nest composition of yellow-legged gulls from an urban population inhabiting a very high populated city (Barcelona, Spain), and combining this information with accurate GPS tracking data, provides a potential tool to monitor the presence of marine and terrestrial litter over time. The results revealed the highest presence of debris in the nests of a seabird ever recorded. All the ne

SUBMITTER: Galimany E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10060334 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature