KOLKATA: Microplastics have invaded even the most remote parts of our planet, with Indian researchers finding particles measuring 20 to 100 microns in Adélie’s lungs, trachea and gastrointestinal tract. penguins from the Svenner Islands to Antarctic.
The study, for which samples were collected during India’s 39th Antarctic expedition of 2019-20, has raised alarms among environmental scientists and raised concerns about the impact of pollution on the Antarctic penguin population.

The results were recently published in Science of the Total Environment, a prestigious international weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering environmental sciences.
University of CalcuttaPunarbasu Chaudhuri, head of Australia’s Department of Environmental Sciences, who led the study, said: “The study is unique because for the first time it reports the presence of microplastics, mainly fiber type, in various organs and tissues of Adélie penguins, which are important. bio-indicators of the Antarctic ecosystem.
Chaudhuri, along with Prabir Ghosh Dastidar of the polar sciences division of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, had collected an adult penguin carcass from a location near India’s Bharati Research Station in Antarctica for the study.
Antarctica’s ecological health worries scientists
The researchers collected samples of various organs from the dead penguin and feces from the surrounding area and preserved them for analysis in India. The examination was carried out at the University of Calcutta, while the characterization of microplastics was carried out at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, under the supervision of Principal Scientist Mahua Saha.
Prabir Ghosh Dastidar said: “The intimate association between adult penguins and their chicks, with the adults feeding the young with collected food, is a critical area for studying the effects of microplastic pollution in penguins. This raises concerns about the transfer of emerging pollutants to young people. these, directly posing a threat to the survival of this endemic Antarctic species. »
Subarna Bhattacharyya, assistant professor of environmental studies at Jadavpur University, said feces samples had the highest concentration of microplastic, followed by the lungs and trachea, while the gastrointestinal tract contained the highest concentration of microplastic. less.
According to the researchers, penguins ingest microplastics through their prey and their environment. Saha explained that 90% of microplastics were microfibers, with high concentrations in feces indicating poor digestion. Their presence in the respiratory organs suggests airborne transmission, with the finer fibers posing increased health risks through the bloodstream.
Shrayan Bhattacharjee, an intern at the Zoological Society Kolkata and Praveen Tudu, a researcher at UC, said that while no microplastics were found in the liver, spleen or muscles, more research was needed to understand the implications contamination in the Antarctic ecosystem.
These findings alarmed scientists because Adélie penguins are crucial indicators of Antarctica’s ecological health. Sugato Hazra, former professor of oceanography at JU, warned: “It is alarming how an accumulation of microplastics has been discovered in Adélie penguins. Unless the sources contributing to these sources can be controlled or restricted on the territory itself, the Antarctic penguins cannot be saved.”