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These findings included the first description of overproduction of scar tissue in the birds’ proventriculus – the part of their stomach where chemical digestion occurs. 

The researchers found a positive relationship between the amount of plastic in the proventriculus and the degree of scarring.

They dissected a glandular organ in the birds called a proventriculus, which functions essentially like the first part of the stomach of other animals.

"We identified significant evidence for widespread plastic-related scar tissue formation in the proventriculus of wild seabirds," the authors wrote in what is likely the first study to thoroughly document plastic-induced fibrosis in wild organisms.

Before anything enters a bird's gizzard, an organ for grinding up food, the proventriculus secretes digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid to break down meals.