Ingested plastics reduce recruitment and survival of an Australian seabird

Plastics research lags 30 y behind many other environmental crises, with population-levelimpacts alluded to but not yet demonstrated for any wild species. Addressing this “GrandChallenge” requires robust data that span many years of variable exposure. Here, weuse 15 y of mark-recapture data to estimate plastics’ impact on the demography ofSable Shearwaters (Ardenna carneipes). We found that the ingestion of >1 g of plasticis common and associated with at least an 11% reduction in the probability of birdssurviving to return and breed at their natal island, with birds that ingested >5 g of plasticalmost never seen again. In a time of unprecedented planetary change and biodiversitycollapse, these results provide much- needed insight into plastics’ role in potentiallydriving species decline.