AJEESHA A. ASIZ, S.N. SRUTHI, KAVYA V.G., PARVATHY S., SUNIL PAUL M. MENACHERRY AND M.S. SHYLESH CHANDRAN
Abstract
Microplastics are a pervasive form of pollution, presenting risks to human health via multiple exposure pathways. The extent of contamination by microplastics in the mangrove ecosystem and beach sediments of the Kollam area in Kerala remains unexplored. In this study, we systematically identified microplastics from five different beach and mangrove sediment samples collected from Azheekal, Kerala, India. Density separation studies revealed the abundance of microplastics with 10-75 particle sizes in mangrove sediments and 75-200 in beach sediments. The samples collected from the fourth beach (B4) and fifth mangroves (M5) locations showed the highest concentrations for beach and mangroves, respectively. In beach sediments, fibres were more prevalent, while in mangrove sediment, fragments were dominant. Ecological risk potential of these contaminated environments was also assessed in terms of the Contamination Factor and Pollution Load Index. Due to the lack of microplastic studies and their presence in the study area will provide baseline data for the forthcoming research. Since the development of effective mitigation and management strategies requires a thorough understanding of the distribution of Microplastics as well as their characteristics in sediment, our studies evaluating the contamination levels by Microplastics in less explored Indian natural environments are of extreme significance.