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Organ-level translocation and tissue-specific accumulation of micro- and nanoplastics in wild birds
Summary
Researchers quantified micro- and nanoplastic burdens across six tissues in ten wild bird species and found that smaller-bodied birds carried higher plastic loads. Nanoplastics showed greater ability to move into internal organs than larger microplastics, and plastic particles were detected in the brain, blood, lungs, and muscle tissue. The study suggests that blood plastic levels could serve as a proxy for internal organ contamination and positions wild birds as potential bioindicators for plastic pollution.
Global plastic pollution has introduced microplastics (MPs, < 5 mm) and nanoplastics (NPs, < 1 µm), collectively termed micro(nano)plastics (MNPs), into terrestrial ecosystems, yet their in vivo fate remains unclear. We quantified MNP burdens across six tissues-feathers, lungs, intestinal contents, blood, brain, and pectoral muscle-in ten wild bird species spanning a 55-fold body-mass gradient, using Laser Direct Infrared spectroscopy (LDIR) for MPs (20-500 µm) and Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) for NPs. Six patterns emerged: (1) small-bodied birds carried higher MNP burdens than larger species; (2) exposure interfaces harbored more MNPs than internal compartments; (3) NPs showed greater translocation potential than MPs; (4) particle characteristics shaped abundance-pellet acrylates (ACR), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) dominated internal tissues, while fibers were largely excluded by anatomical filtration; (5) blood MNP levels showed a positive trend with those in internal organs, suggesting potential utility as a proxy for internal burden; (6) hazard index analysis identified high-risk burdens in most organs, with PVC and polyurethane (PU) requiring regulatory attention. This study provides the first organ-level MNP distribution map under natural exposure and positions birds as potential bioindicators for cryptic plastic pollution in terrestrial systems.