Microplastics are altering the gut microbiome of seabirds

It has long been known that seabirds die from plastic because they mistake plastic droppings floating in the water for food and gobble them up. But it appears that even small plastic particles can harm animals, say researchers led by Gloria Fackelmann from the University of Ulm. In the journal “Nature Ecology & Evolution” to report. Microplastics, that is, particles smaller than five millimeters, change the composition of the microbiome in the gut of birds: the number of bacteria beneficial to the health of birds decreases. In contrast, the amount of harmful microbes increases.