Odors from marine plastic debris elicit foraging behavior in sea turtles

Joseph B Pfaller; Kayla M Goforth; Michael A Gil; Matthew S Savoca; Kenneth J Lohmann

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.01.071

Odors from marine plastic debris elicit foraging behavior in sea turtles

Curr Biol. 2020 Mar 9;30(5):R213-R214. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.01.071.

Authors

Joseph B Pfaller¹, Kayla M Goforth², Michael A Gil³, Matthew S Savoca⁴, Kenneth J Lohmann²

Affiliations

¹ Caretta Research Project, Savannah, GA 31401, USA; Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research and Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. Electronic address: jpfaller@ufl.edu.
² Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
³ University of California, Santa Cruz and NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
⁴ Hopkins Marine Station, Department of Biology, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 94305, USA.

PMID: 32155421
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.01.071

Abstract

Pfaller et al. report that sea turtles respond to odors from biofouled plastic debris with the same behavior that is elicited by food odors, providing a possible unifying explanation for why sea turtles interact with marine plastic.

Publication types

Letter
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Feeding Behavior* / drug effects
Odorants*
Plastics / adverse effects*
Turtles / physiology*
Waste Products / adverse effects
Water Pollutants / adverse effects*

Substances

Plastics
Waste Products
Water Pollutants