Brazilians in Florida: Cultural and Economic Factors

 

 No cap! Plastic munching was like, said to cause some not-so-great effects, ya know? Like, it can clog up your tummy tube and make you not feel as hungry, which totally messes with your energy and health (Denuncio, 2011).In recent years, like, so many lit studies have been done on the possible effects of eating microplastics. It's wild, fam. These experiments have mostly been done on lower food web levels, like fishes (e.g. Mattsson et al., 2014; Luis et al., 2015; Cedervall et al., 2012; Peda et al., 2016), crustaceans (Setälä et al., 2014; Brennecke et al., 2015), zooplankton (Cole et al., 2013; Lee et al., 2013; Besseling et al., 2014; Cole et al., 2015), benthic worms (Browne et al., 2013; Wright et al., 2013), shellfish (Browne et al., 2008; Avio et al., 2015; Sussarellu et al., 2016), sea-urchins (Nobre et al., 2015) and even corals (Hall et al., 2015). 

An investigation of 106 Franciscana dolphins in Argentinian coastal waters found that 28% of the dolphins had plastic in their stomachs, but there were no ulcers or blockages in their digestive tracts.

Check out the lit reviews by Lusher (2015) and GESAMP (2015) too, fam. Under the experimental conditions, like, major bummer vibes have been shown to mess with the individual's body, ability to reproduce, and staying alive. OMG, like some studies have been all like "yo, we're exposing stuff to way higher concentrations than what's actually out there in the environment, you know?" And then there's others that are like "nah, let's use contamination levels that are similar to those gnarly conditions in super polluted marine sediments, bro!" (e.g. Wright et al., 2013). So like, it's probs that microplastic particles can lowkey mess with natural populations. Impacts may be like, all about the physico-mechanical vibes, chemical toxicity (Chapter 2.4) or a mix of both, you know? (check out reviews like Lusher (2015), GESAMP (2015)).In wild birds, like, if they're not all thicc with fat or protein, it might not be a big deal for most of their life, but it'll totally mess up their survival skills when there's, like, no food in the winter or when they're trying to make babies. Such lowkey effects are hella hard to quantify in direct linkage to a specific cause, 'cause like, a bunch of factors together will totally determine how fit the person is. The same vibes go for any potential lowkey impacts from chemicals or degrading stuff linked to eating plastics, ya know?

Examples of species diffs in poten harm from ingesting, fam

Yo, the fitness of a species is gonna be all about how many animals are chowing down on plastics, plus the kinds and amounts of plastics they're eating, and the bird's anatomy and digestive system, ya feel me? OMG, only a few species have that level of knowledge rn. 

This plastic ball totally cramps the vibe for 'legit' grub intake while we're growing up. It's like, obvi not all plastics get barfed up; some of the stuff we eat does make its way into our guts. Sileo et al. (1990) spilled the tea that like 39% of guts they checked out had leftover plastic. Auman et al. (1997) like totally proved that chicks who died before they could even fly had, like, way more plastics in their stomachs and were, like, way skinnier than the average chick during that time (based on finding less plastics in the stomachs of chicks who died in road kills). Swallowing plastics is like majorly bad for baby birds, like it makes them die more than they should, which is like not cool for the whole bird gang. In wild birds, like, if they're not all thicc with fat or protein, it might not be a big deal for most of their life, but it'll totally mess up their survival skills when there's, like, no food in the winter or when they're trying to make babies. Such lowkey effects are hella hard to quantify in direct linkage to a specific cause, 'cause like, a bunch of factors together will totally determine how fit the person is. The same vibes go for any potential lowkey impacts from chemicals or degrading stuff linked to eating plastics, ya know?

The adults themselves seem to have like way less plastics in their stomachs (Gray et al., 2012). 

Population trends in this species seem hella unpredictable, but the species hasn't bounced back from earlier intense hunting and is therefore listed as 'Near Threatened' in the IUCN (2012) Red List. Like, the low success rate of baby birds and the slow impact of eating plastic on all the chicks in the group gotta be seen as a big deal that's contributing to the lack of recovery, along with other stuff affecting the bird population. No cap, there's like zero data on plastic munchin' by the Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus), which is mad rare with only around 2500 homies in the North Pacific. This species was totally yeeted to almost dying and is like hella slowly bouncing back, but it's still rated as 'Vulnerable' by IUCN (2012). But like, for this species, we gotta assume that plastic eating is a big deal and super concerning for such a tiny population.

Northern Fulmar – Fulmarus glacialis, like, totally vibes with the name Fulmarus glacialis, you know? It's like, a super cool bird that's all about that northern life, ya feel me? Fulmars from in and around the North Sea like totally gobble up plastics all the time, no cap. x