Multispecies Assessment of Anthropogenic Particle Ingestion in a Marine Protected Area

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Plastic pollution presents a growing concern for marine biodiversity, and among these, anthropogenic particles (APs) are entering marine ecosystems at an alarming rate from land and sea sources. In this study, we quantify the ingestion of APs across fish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers (echinoderms), bivalves (molluscs), and jellyfish (cnidarians), identify biotic and abiotic factors that might influence the ingested items; and identify ingestion patterns based on taxonomic groups, trophic guilds, and habitats. Ingestion of APs was observed in the majority of the species analyses with occurrence ranging from 0% to 100%. The study results indicate that plastic pollution poses a threat to species found within the marine protected area of the Cabrera Marine-Terrestrial National Park despite their protection status. The multispecies approach provided a better understanding of the high level of AP exposure to species, highlighting the associated damage to marine biodiversity related to marine waste. ABSTRACT: We have applied a multispecies ecosystem approach to analyse the ingestion of anthropogenic particles (AP) in the gastrointestinal tract of 313 individuals (17 fish species and 8 invertebrate species) from pelagic, demersal and benthic habitats in a marine protected area off the Western Mediterranean (Cabrera National Park). We have quantified and characterized the ingestion at several taxonomic levels of fish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, bivalves, and jellyfish in relation to biotic/abiotic factors based on taxonomic groups, trophic guilds (functional groups) and habitats. AP ingestion occurrence ranged from 26 to 100% with no significant differences among taxonomic groups. The fish within the MPA showed an overall ingestion occurrence ranging from 0 to 100%, the echinoderms from 29 to 100%, the bivalves from 72 to 96% and the jellyfish 36% ingestion. The ecosystem approach applied to evaluate overall AP ingestion within the species reported that for trophic guilds, the omnivorous species ingested the highest amounts of anthropogenic items, while herbivores ingested significantly fewer items than all other trophic guilds. Moreover, no significant differences were found amongst habitats, indicating a homogeneous spatial distribution of APs at all studied habitats. The multispecies approach provided insight into the high APs exposure to species within Cabrera MPA, highlighting the potential harm linked with marine litter that threatens marine biodiversity.