Assessing the Prevalence of Microplastics in the Diet of Brown Bears (Ursus Arctos) in Coastal vs Interior North America.
Brown bears (Ursus arctos) are among North America’s most iconic predators, roaming both coastal and interior habitats. Their wide-ranging diets—which include berries, plants, salmon, seals, and other marine and terrestrial animals—make them ideal species for studying environmental contaminants like microplastics. The Plastic Ocean Project is working with leading researchers and wildlife experts to investigate how microplastics enter the diets of brown bears and how these tiny plastics may move through ecosystems.
This research is a collaborative effort between the Plastic Ocean Project, the Ocean Plastics Recovery Project, adjunct professor Dr. Garth Mowat of the University of British Columbia, and wildlife biologists Shannon Finnegan (Koniag Native Corporation), Dr. Nathan Svoboda (Alaska Department of Fish and Game), and Tyler Brasington (Grand Teton National Park). Together, they are studying how microplastics enter the diets of brown bears across North America, combining expertise in environmental science, wildlife biology, and microplastic research.
Scat samples have been collected from multiple regions, including Kodiak and Kayak Islands in Alaska, Moran, Wyoming, and upcoming sites in Alberta and the Canadian Rockies. Samples are processed in the lab using chemical breakdown and density separation, and microplastics are identified with µ-FTIR (micro-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy). Brown bears are ideal for this study because their diets include both terrestrial and marine foods, meaning coastal bears are particularly likely to ingest microplastics and potentially transport them from the ocean into terrestrial ecosystems. By analyzing these samples, researchers aim to understand how microplastics move through top predators and assess their potential effects on wildlife health.
This study provides new insights into how microplastics travel through North American ecosystems via top predators like brown bears. Comparing coastal and interior populations allows researchers to track pathways of plastic pollution and better understand its ecological impact. These findings highlight the hidden presence of plastics in wildlife diets and underscore the urgent need to reduce plastic pollution to protect both animals and the environments they inhabit.