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. 2025 Feb;32(10):6153-6160.
doi: 10.1007/s11356-025-36115-x. Epub 2025 Feb 20.

Microplastic uptake by birds: from observation to development of a novel seed coating to prevent bird predation of corn seeds

Cesare Accinelli  1 , Veronica Bruno  2 , Hamed K Abbas  3 , Chiara Morena  2 , Vivek H Khambhati  3 , Wayne T Shier  4
Affiliations

Microplastic uptake by birds: from observation to development of a novel seed coating to prevent bird predation of corn seeds

Cesare Accinelli et al. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2025 Feb.

Abstract

The occurrence of microplastics in soil is an emerging issue that not only impacts soil ecology but also has the potential to affect terrestrial birds foraging in agricultural fields. Foraging birds may unintentionally take up soil-borne microplastics along with soil adhering to crop residues and seeds of cultivated species. Microplastic uptake by foraging terrestrial bird species, including Pica pica (magpie), Corvus cornix (hooded crow), and Columba palumbus (common wood pigeon), studied using camera traps, showed that the risk of MP uptake by these birds microplastics from compostable plastic bags was elevated by 27 and 78% when the microplastic particles were associated with corn seed grits or corn seeds, respectively. When these film fragments were coated with a slurry containing tannic acid, saponin, and juglone, microplastic uptake was significantly reduced. Similarly, coating corn seeds with this repellent slurry reduced seed predation by birds up to 86%, and completely wrapping corn seeds with a repellent plastic film resulted in no observed seed predation by birds. The same results were obtained when the wrapping film was replaced by a seed coating containing hairy cotton fibers which may have triggered a feather fear or repulsion response in the birds. This study demonstrated that covering corn seeds with natural repellents or hairy filaments provided complete protection from bird predation.

Keywords: Bird repellents; Maize; Microplastic; Seed predation; Seed treatment; Wild birds.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval: Not applicable. Consent to participate: Not applicable (this study did not recruit any human subjects). Consent for publication: Not applicable (this study is not published previously). Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Map of the selected bird observation sites. MP uptake by birds was evaluated in five observation sites located in Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Germination (histogram on the left) and mean germination time (histogram on the right) of corn seeds that were coated with a bird repellent slurry with or without cotton fibers. Bars with same letters are not significantly different (p > 0.05)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Accinelli C, Abbas HK, Shier WT, Vicari A, Little NS, Aloise MR, Giacomini S (2019) Degradation of microplastic seed film-coating fragments in soil. Chemosphere 226:645–650. 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.03.161 - PubMed
    1. Accinelli C, Abbas HK, Bruno V, Nissen L, Vicari A, Bellaloui N, Little NS, Shier WT (2020) Persistence in soil of microplastic films from ultra-thin compostable plastic bags and implications on soil Aspergillusflavus population. Waste Manage 113:312–318. 10.1016/j.wasman.2020.06.011 - PubMed
    1. Accinelli C, Abbas HK, Bruno V, Vicari A, Little NS, Ebelhar MW, Shier WT (2021) Minimizing abrasion losses from film-coated corn seeds. J Crop Improv 35:666–678. 10.1080/15427528.2020.1861156
    1. Accinelli C, Abbas HK, Bruno V, Khambhati VH, Little NS, Bellaloui N, Shier WT (2022) Field studies on the deterioration of microplastic films from ultra-thin compostable bags in soil. J Environ Manage 305:114407. 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.114407 - PubMed
    1. Accinelli C, Bruno V, Morena C (2023) Bird-repellent seed treatment (Patent 102023000000675)

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