Bioindicators of Plastic Pollution: Insights into the Relationship between Environmental Plastic Abundance and Ingestion by Green Turtles (<i>Chelonia mydas</i>).

ABSTRACT: The increase in waste production over recent decades has become a global issue with plastic pollution taking center stage. To respond, we require tools to design and monitor the effectiveness of policies aimed at tackling plastic pollution. However, a key question remains unanswered: "What is the relationship between plastic accumulated in the environment and the plastic ingestion by wildlife?" To address this, we evaluated the relationship between plastic accumulated in the environment and plastic ingested by the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), at regional and local scales. We found a decoupling between plastic in the environment and plastic ingestion at regional and local scale. However, we found a strong relationship when evaluating flexible plastics, where an increase of 1 it

SUBMITTER: Santos RG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12288082 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature