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Pollen and microplastics in hedgehog ( Erinaceus europeaus ) faeces as a means to identify landscape use in urban and sub-urban environments of the United Kingdom
Summary
Scientists studied hedgehog poop to track where these declining animals travel and feed in UK neighborhoods, using pollen traces (from insects they eat) as a kind of GPS marker. Almost every sample also contained microplastics, a reminder that plastic pollution has worked its way into wildlife even in everyday backyards and green spaces. While this study focused on hedgehogs, it adds to growing evidence that microplastics are widespread in the environment, raising questions about their broader impact on ecosystems and, potentially, human health.
Within the UK, the western European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) has suffered a long-term population decline to the point of being considered vulnerable to extinction in Great Britain. Here we test whether the pollen content of hedgehog faeces reflects their dominantly insect diet, rather than atmospheric contamination. Palynological results show that entomophilous pollen is the most common in hedgehog faeces. This implies that the pollen signature of hedgehog faeces reflects the habitat within which they were feeding. This could therefore be used to track hedgehogs through botanically heterogeneous landscapes such as urban and sub-urban gardens. An exploratory study was also performed to assess the presence of microplastics within faecal samples. Microplastics were present in all but two samples.