INVESTIGATION OF MICROPLASTIC IN PELLETS FROM THE SELECTED PISCIVOROUS BIRD ALONG THE WETLANDS OF COIMBATORE CITY IN TAMIL NADU STATE OF INDIAVENKITACHALAM R., SREEJITH K., SURYAPRAHASAN R., VIJAYA KUMAR C. AND JEYA K.Abstract The presence of microplastic has reported in the pellets of various water birds across the world but little information were available on plastic ingestion of fresh water birds in India. The Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) pellets were collected along the wetlands of Noyyal River. In total, 50 regurgitated pellets were examined between September, 2021 to March, 2022. The putative plastic elements were detected from visual examination followed by μ-FTIR and SEM-EDS. There are two types of polymers namely polyethylene fibers and polypropylene fibers were detected from 13 regurgitated pellets. This was the first reconnaissance study examined the presence of micro plastic fragments in regurgitated pellets of the Common Kingfisher in the Southern India (Fig. 1). This is an important document to understand the impact of microplastic pollution in food web of fresh water ecosystem. |