Risks of Covid-19 face masks to wildlife: Present and future research needs

The use of disposable face masks became essential to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in an unprecedented rise in their production and, unfortunately, to a new form of environmental contamination due to improper disposal. Recent publications reported the abundance of COVID-19-related litter in several environments, wildlife interaction with such items, and the contaminants that can be released from such protective equipment that has the potential to induce ecotoxicological effects. This paper provides a critical review of COVID-19 face mask occurrence in diverse environments and their adverse physiological and ecotoxicological effects on wildlife. It also outlines potential remediation strategies to mitigate the environmental challenge impose by COVID-19-related litter. ; Thanks are due to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020 + UIDB/50017/ 2020), with the financial support from FCT/MCTES through national funds. To the research project comPET (PTDC/CTA-AMB/30361/ 2017), funded by FEDER, through COMPETE 2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI), and by national funds (OE), through FCT/MCTES. J.C.P. and A.L.P.S. were funded by Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) through PD/BD/135581/2018 scholarship and CEECIND/01366/2018 research contract, respectively; under POCH funds, co-financed by the European Social Fund and Portuguese National Funds from MEC. ; Peer reviewed