부산대학교 도서관

Plastic pollution is increasingly recognised as a global problem. In particular. plastic pieces <5 min in si, e emicroplastics') are of interest due to their prevalence and association with hannful. persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Very little is known about the pirvalence of microplasties in coastal birds. Yet. these water-associated birds are at a high risk of ingesting microplastics that accumulate near the water's surface. This study describes the niicroplastics found in the proventriculus and sentriculus of four species of coastal birds regarding quantity, size. type (fiber or fragment). and color (light. mid. or dark). A total of 643 microplastic particles were identified. with 43 of the 44 study specimens containing inicroplastics (97.7% frequency). The 'fiber' type and the inid' color were the' most common microplastics. There were no significant differences between species for particle sizes. but Brown Pelicans contained significantly more particles than the other three species. These results highlight the prevalence of plastic pollution in medium-sized seabirds. bul more work is needed to determine microplastic patterns between laxa and RN·aging environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]