Dear Colleagues,

I'd like to share with you a recently published paper on debris ingestion by cetaceans published in Marine Pollution Bulletin. We performed a comprehensive assessment of marine debris ingestion among 22 cetacean species (approximately half of Brazil’s known cetacean diversity) stranded along the southern Brazilian coast (Paraná and Santa Catarina) between 2015 and 2020. Drawing on data from the Santos Basin Beach Monitoring Project (PMP-BS), we analyzed the gastrointestinal contents of 884 individuals, and detected anthropogenic debris in 10.1% of the total sample. Coastal species exhibited the highest vulnerability, with the endangered Franciscana dolphin (Pontoporia blainvillei) presenting the highest ingestion rate at 17.9%, likely driven by its foraging strategy. Other affected coastal species included the Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) at 6.0% and the Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) at 2.5%

 

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Dr. André S. Barreto Website: https://libgeo.univali.br Google Scholar Profile / ORCID / CV Lattes

Lab. de Informática da Biodiversidade e Geomática Setor D6, Sala 207 / Escola Politécnica, UNIVALI R. Uruguai, 458 - CEP 88302-901 - Itajaí/SC - Brasil Fone: 47-33417960 - FAX: 47-33417715