How does landfills affect animals

A new study has found that these dumps are resulting in a shift in food habits of birds and wild animals. The main culprit is plastic waste which is known to cause health complications and disruptive reproductive patterns in animals that accidently ingest it.

It also causes environmental pollution through chemicals leaching from it. The researchers used direct observation as well as infrared camera-traps to monitor animal visits and food intake behaviour at two selected sites in Nainital district of Uttarakhand.

The sites were monitored for two to three hours daily for a period of two months, and scanning was done every 10 minutes throughout the observation period. Feeding patterns and frequency of animal and bird visits to these garbage sites was recorded. A total of 32 species of animals and birds were identified feeding on the garbage. Based on the observed behavior of animal at the sites, researchers divided them into different groups.

First is peckers, who used beaks to pull out food from plastics, including 19 species of birds. The second group is handlers—two species of animals with hand-like front body parts that were capable of segregating food from other waste.

The last identified group is gulpers, who lacked hand-like organs as well as mouthparts and thus could not separate food from plastics. It was found that the average time spent by an animal or a bird at garbage sites is about 2. In fact, landfills are among the largest anthropogenic sources of methane, along with natural gas operations.

But how do landfills — and our growing production of trash, in general — affect our environment on a smaller level? Do they impart any effects on the health and behavior of wildlife? Landfills serve as the final resting place for plastic bags, food scraps, pharmaceuticals, and personal-care products e. The large proportion of landfills comprised of food approximately 46 percent has served to attract a number of bird species, causing some — such as the white stork, a species native to Spain and Portugal — to even forgo their yearly winter migrations and congregate around landfills instead.

The long-term health effects of ingesting these food scraps are currently unknown; as such, this comprises an important area for future research. According to a study , approximately 8.

Unfortunately, this poses a huge danger to coastal and marine species — while the white stork finds sustenance in thrown-away food scraps, marine species often become entangled in the floating trash or mistake it for food , which can lead to drowning.

It is not only the large pieces of trash that pose a risk to marine life. These particles can easily be ingested by filter-feeders and birds, filling their stomachs and leading to starvation.

It is currently estimated that around marine species are in danger of extinction due to plastic pollution. One of the most worrisome aspects of garbage disposal is the production of leachate. Leachate is the byproduct of landfill percolation by water — as water passes through the many layers of a landfill, it absorbs thousands of soluble chemicals from products including pharmaceuticals, plastics, and house-cleaning products.

The solution produced through this process is then liable to leach into groundwater supplies and nearby bodies of water, creating a host of health problems for humans and animals alike.

Contamination of water sources by leachate has been shown to lead to a reduction in bird populations, feminization of male fish, and an increased incidence of cancer among bottom-dwelling fish. This and previous studies show that, due to anthropogenic habitat modification and the degradation of semi-natural habitats such as pastures and meadows, the white stork has adapted to the use of agricultural habitats 30 , Proportions of pastures and meadows differ greatly between regions, and the overall percentage is low Habitat, however, is complex in terms of structure, and land cover is only one of the elements explaining breeding success.

Our results clearly indicate that weather conditions and soil—water relationships may be important, as they affect prey abundance, especially in poor habitats Moreover, our results show a non-linear relationship between breeding effect and arable lands Fig. Breeding effect, consistent with previous studies 30 , was affected by the cover of arable lands, as mentioned above, other agricultural lands, pastures and meadows, and areas greatly altered by humans, but as well by minimum temperature.

It was previously shown that breeding success of the white storks is affected by weather conditions, especially low temperatures 40 , 79 , We found no significant effect of distance to landfill on breeding effect; this finding is exactly the same as that on a more regional scale There may be several reasons for the lack of effect on breeding effect.

Firstly, data on breeding success the ratio of number of fledglings to number of hatchlings or number of laid eggs is very difficult to obtain because most nests are currently located on electric pylons 81 , Moreover, breeding effect, although known as the best proxy 19 , may be insufficient.

Secondly, according to previous studies, abundant invertebrate prey is a critical food resource for younger nestlings 25 , Thus, despite occupation of nests closer to landfills, which provide alternative resources, the resulting waste food is insufficient to ensure a higher level of breeding success due to a lack of natural food resources for nestling survival at an earlier stage of development.

Similar results were also obtained in Algeria, where the probability of establishing a large colony was greater in the vicinity of a landfill, but where distance to landfill did not influence breeding effect, which was affected by precipitation 9 , In Switzerland, in years of high reproductive output, no significant differences were noted between nests with and without supplementary feeding The lack of effect of landfill proximity on breeding effect may arise from the age of birds that use landfills.

Younger animals show a high degree of behavioural plasticity and thus are less neophobic and more inclined to use new food sources 86 , 87 , If birds feeding at landfills are mostly younger birds, we can expect that their lack of experience will not be easily compensated by accessible food sources and thus their level of breeding success will continue to be low.

It is crucial to continue direct observations on landfills along with ringing projects in order to better explain this phenomenon. Our results show that the number of white storks observed at landfills peaks 8 h after sunrise. This suggests that white storks use other feeding areas in the early morning hours, e. Then, when earthworm abundance decreases with rising temperatures and air thermals are conducive to flying long distances, storks use landfills as food sources. We also found that the white stork uses landfills mostly in the middle of the breeding season late June , the time when the food demands of nestlings are greatest Once chicks are fledged, numbers of white storks at landfills decrease, which is in contrast to results from Western Europe where landfills are used by storks intensively after breeding season, during autumn migration 26 , Surprisingly, we found no relationship between numbers of white storks and population density.

This may result from the small percentage of the population that feeds on landfills. The maximum of birds observed at landfills is actually small compared to western European countries, where hundreds or even thousands of storks feed at landfills Furthermore, as the peak in the number of visiting birds is observed in late June, it is certain that at this time we observe not only breeding birds but also non-breeders, which are also at the peak of their abundance If some visiting storks are non-breeders, then it confirms our hypothesis concerning the absence of an effect of landfill proximity on breeding effect.

This would be consistent with the findings of Gilbert et al. This is also consistent with studies of other species, e. Although white storks have been observed at landfills in CEE for over two decades 29 , this phenomenon has not developed on a scale similar to that of the Western European population of white storks. One potential explanation is that the level of naturalness of agricultural land is still high in this part of Europe and white storks have not been forced to change their feeding habits.

What is more, landfills are also a source of many pathogens for foraging birds 16 , 63 , 92 , as well as of toxins 15 , 17 , 18 that may reduce hatchling survival and, eventually, fitness.

To defend themselves from pathogens and toxins, individuals need additional energy resources, as the immunological system is costly In warmer climates, metabolisation of pathogens may be easier due to the lower cost of thermoregulation.

In CEE the climate may sometime be severe for breeding birds and may reduce breeding success Therefore, in CEE, white storks which use landfills as foraging grounds may not achieve higher levels of breeding success than those foraging more naturally.

It seems that feeding at landfills is still facultative, and the trend of nesting closer to landfills 30 does not determine breeding effect. Based on above, the planned open-air landfills closing in European Union probably will not affect population trends of CEE white stork. However, there are still many unresolved questions, concerning not only the consequences of feeding at landfills but also how this novel behaviour is learned.

The importance of feeding at landfills in CEE countries should be studied further, during both breeding and non-breeding seasons. The slow progress of this phenomenon in CEE still offers great potential for further studies and is certainly worth monitoring.

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