Evaluation of pesticide toxicity in some important wetlands of porbandar district gujarat

Abstract

Pesticide poisoning is a growing threat to waterbirds, notably piscivorous birds. Feather heavy metal concentration is an important and non-destructive bioindicator. Asian Waterbird Census (AWC), established in 1987, is one of the longest-running citizen science initiatives in India. Porbandar district has unique low-lying floodplain areas locally known as Ghed . Often the published works focus on wintering population of waterbirds; pesticide residual analysis in fish and waterbirds; and feather heavy metal contamination separately. An attempt has been made to combine these three important research aspects in a single work. newlineAim: A pioneering attempt is made to analyze pesticide residues in the waterbirds and fishes internal organs; to analyse the heavy metal contamination in the feathers of waterbirds; and to perform waterbird census continuously for several years with special reference to wetlands of Porbandar. newlineMaterials and methods: Pesticide residue analysis was also performed in the liver tissues of piscivorous birds that died as a result of kite flying day injury, as well as fish species captured from the Mokarsagar Wetland Complex in Porbandar. In the LC-MS/MS, all bird and fish samples were analysed for 230 pesticides. Mixed feathers of 28 individuals of 12 different waterbird species were collected and analysed for Copper, zinc, iron, chromium, lead, and cadmium by an inductive coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). Waterbird population monitoring in 23 wetlands was performed as a part of AWC from 2015 to 2021. The international suggested bird count period was followed. newlineResults and Discussion: Indoxacarb (0.012 ppm) was found in Great Egret, while Oxadiazon (0.0233 ppm) and Indoxacarb (0.015 ppm) were found in Indian Pond Heron. Indoxacarb and Oxadiazon were found in five fish species, whereas Amectotradin was found in four fish species and Imidacloprid was found in one fish species. Sardonella longiceps had the highest concentration of Oxadiazon (0.298 ppm). A Red-naped Ibis