You are here:
Potential for Gulls to Transport Bacteria from Human Waste Sites to Beaches
Citation:
ALM, E., Q. Daniels-Witt, D. Learman, H. Ryu, D. Jordan, T. Gehring, AND J. Santodomingo. Potential for Gulls to Transport Bacteria from Human Waste Sites to Beaches. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT. Elsevier BV, AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, 615:123-130, (2018).
Impact/Purpose:
We examined gulls that visited two different recreational areas that were located nearby a waste lagoon and two landfills, as determined by radio telemetry, and tested their feces for the presence of FBI (i.e., enterococci and E. coli), gull- and human-specific fecal markers using qPCR assays.
Description:
Contamination of recreational beaches due to fecal waste from gulls complicates beach monitoring and may pose a risk to public health. Gulls that feed at human waste sites may ingest human-associated fecal microorganisms associated with that waste. If these gulls also visit beaches, they may serve as vectors, transporting fecal microorganisms to the beach where they may subsequently contaminate sand and water. In this study, samples collected from landfills, treated wastewater storage lagoons, and public beaches demonstrated a spatial and temporal overlap of markers for gull and human-associated microorganisms. In addition, markers for gull, fecal indicator bacteria, and the human-associated marker, HF183, were detected in gull feces and cloacae samples. Further, HF183 was detected in cloacae samples from gulls that were documented by radio-telemetry travelling between human waste sites and public beaches. This study highlights the potential for gulls that visit human waste sites to disperse human-associated microorganisms in the beach landscape.
URLs/Downloads:
Free access through PubMed Central
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969717325834?via%3Dihub