Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40073124›Full record

ArticleScience advances2025

Seabirds in crisis: Plastic ingestion induces proteomic signatures of multiorgan failure and neurodegeneration.

Alix M de Jersey, Jennifer L Lavers, Alexander L Bond, Richard Wilson, Graeme R Zosky, Jack Rivers-Auty

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Science advances, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Ingested plastics reduce recruitment and survival of an Australian seabird.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Revealing the risk of macroplastic ingestion to marine wildlife.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  6. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Alix M de JerseyTasmanian School of Medicine, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, 17 Liverpool Street, Hobart, Tasmania 7000, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-7859-4206
Jennifer L LaversGulbali Institute, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2678, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-7596-6588
Alexander L BondBird Group, The Natural History Museum, Akeman Street, Tring, Hertfordshire HP23 6AP, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-2125-7238
Richard WilsonCentral Science Laboratory (CSL), University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay, Tasmania 7005, Australia.
Graeme R ZoskyMenzies Institute for Medical Research, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, 17 Liverpool Street, Hobart, Tasmania 7000, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-9039-0302
Jack Rivers-AutyTasmanian School of Medicine, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, 17 Liverpool Street, Hobart, Tasmania 7000, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-5321-2347

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Understanding plastics' harmful impacts on wildlife would benefit from the application of hypothesis agnostic testing commonly used in medical research to detect declines in population health. Adopting a data-driven, proteomic approach, we assessed changes in 745 proteins in a free-living nonmodel organism with differing levels of plastic exposure. Seabird chicks heavily affected by plastic ingestion demonstrated a range of negative health consequences: Intracellular components that should not be found in the blood were frequently detected, indicative of cell lysis. Secreted proteins were less abundant, indicating that the stomach, liver, and kidneys are not functioning as normal. Alarmingly, these signatures included evidence of neurodegeneration in <90-day-old seabird chicks with high levels of ingested plastic. The proteomic signatures reflect the effects of plastic distal to the site of exposure (i.e., the stomach). Notably, metrics commonly used to assess condition in wildlife (such as body mass) do not provide an accurate description of health or the impacts of plastic ingestion.

Indexed as

Multiple Organ FailureNeurodegenerative DiseasesPlasticsProteomeProteomicsAnimalsPlasticsProteome

Identifiers

PMID40073124
PMCPMC11900854

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.