02_plastic-ingestion-data
Full details are available in the Supplementary Material of the paper.
In brief, for each relevant publication in 01_sources-for-plastic-ingestion-data we extracted information on the age class of sampled birds, sample size of birds, year(s) in which sampling was conducted, sampling method (bolus, brushing, lavage, necropsy, regurgitation or scat) and ocean basin (Arctic, Indian, North Atlantic, North Pacific, South Atlantic, South Pacific, or Southern oceans).
We categorised the reported age class of sampled individuals as ‘adult’, ‘subadult’, ‘adult/subadult’, ‘nest-bound’ (i.e., chicks or fledglings), and ‘mixed’. If birds were collected at sea and age class was not reported, sampled birds were categorised as ‘adult/subadult’ because they were not nest-bound. When multiple age classes were pooled (e.g., chicks and adults) or when age class could not be discerned, we categorised age class as ‘mixed’.
Data from each source was divided to ensure separate sampling units for each combination of source, year, site, species, age class, and sampling method, depending on how much detail on data collection was provided in the paper. Literature that failed to report sample sizes of birds examined for plastic ingestion and/or sample sizes of birds found with plastic was not included in the dataset. Duplicate data from secondary research was removed as long as they were specified as such by the authors.
Column contents are as follows.
- HBWv8.1_Binomial. Species name matched to Handbook of Birds of the World v8.1 taxonomy. Note that the data cleaning steps prior to the analyses update these to the Clements et al 2025 taxonomy.
- UniqueID_Plastic.study. A unique ID for the combination of sourceyearsitespeciesageclass. This number is not linked to the Source.
- Source. Source name in the form Author et al, YEAR. This matches the Source column in 01_sources-for-plastic-ingestion-data .
- Common.name_Plastic.study. Common name of the species as stated in the source.
- Sci.name_Plastic.study. Scientific name of the species as stated in the source.
- Site. Study site name, as per the Source. Include Country.
- lat. Latitude (DMS) of study site.
- lon. Longitude (DMS) of study site.
- MarineRegion. Ocean basin of site. Options are Arctic, Indian, North Atlantic, North Pacific, South Atlantic, South Pacific, or Southern oceans.
- Age.Class. Age class of sampled birds. Options are adult, subadult, adult/subadult, nest-bound (i.e., chicks or fledglings), or mixed. If birds were collected at sea and age class was not reported, sampled birds were categorised as adult/subadult because they were not nest-bound. When multiple age classes were pooled (e.g., chicks and adults) or when age class could not be discerned, we categorised age class as mixed.
- Date_Text. Date as text. If relevant this was the range of dates the study covered.
- Date_FirstYR. First year the study covered.
- Date_LastYR. Last year the study covered.
- Date_MedianYR. Median year the study covered.
- Study.Duration . Study duration in years.
- n. Number of birds sampled.
- n_plastic. Number of sampled birds that had ingested at least one piece of plastic.
- FO. Frequency of occurrence of plastic. This is calculated as n_plastic / n.
- Plastic. Did any of the sampled birds ingest at least one piece of plastic? Yes/No.
- Sampling_method. Primary way that plastic samples were obtained. Options are bolus, brushing, lavage, necropsy, regurgitation or scat.
- Added_by. Data curator who added the data. Primarily Steph Avery-Gomm (SA-G), Nia Potapova (NP) or Chrissie Potter (CP).
- Comments. Any comments, queries or notes made by the data curators.
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| Last updated | 26 January 2026 |
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