Abundance and distribution of small microplastics (≤ 3 μm) in sediments and seaworms from the Southern Mediterranean coasts and characterisation of their potential harmful effects.

Missawi, Omayma; Bousserrhıne, Noureddine; Belbekhouche, Sabrina; Zitouni, Nesrine; Alphonse, Vanessa; Boughattas, Iteb; Bannı, Mohamed

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114634

Cited by 74 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Moreover, exposure to weathering conditions, such as UV irradiation and physical abrasion, exacerbates the release of MPs ( Wang et al, 2021 ). MPs are ubiquitous in the environment ( Dioses-Salinas et al, 2020 ; Dobaradaran et al, 2018 ; Takdastan et al, 2021 ), and many studies recorded their presence in plankton ( Lin, 2016 ), seaworms ( Missawi et al, 2020 ), earthworms ( Rillig et al, 2017 ), mollusks ( De-la-Torre et al, 2020a ), crustaceans ( Goldstein and Goodwin, 2013 ), fish ( Wang et al, 2020 ), sea turtles and marine mammals ( Meaza et al, 2021 ; Santillán et al, 2020 ). The presence of MPs along the terrestrial and marine food chains suggests that humans are exposed through the consumption of contaminated seafood and food products ( Akhbarizadeh et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personal protective equipment (PPE) pollution associated with the COVID-19 pandemic along the coastline of Agadir, Morocco

Ben-Haddad

De-la-Torre

Abelouah

et al. 2021

Science of The Total Environment

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The increasing use of personal protective equipment (PPE) as a sanitary measure against the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has become a significant source of many environmental risks. The majority of the governments enforce the use of PPE in public areas, such as beaches. Thus, the use and disposal of PPE have compromised most solid waste management strategies, ultimately leading to the occurrence of PPE polluting the marine environment. The present study aimed to monitor the PPE pollution associated with COVID-19 along the coastline of Agadir, Morocco. In parallel, the influence of the activities carried out in each sampled beach before and after the lockdown break was reported. Overall, a total number of 689 PPE items were identified, with a mean density of 1.13 × 10 −5 PPE m −2 (0–1.21 × 10 −4 PPE m −2 ). The majority of the PPE items found were face masks (96.81%), out of which 98.4% were surgical masks and 1.6% were reusable cloth masks. The most polluted sites were the beaches with recreational activities, followed by surfing, and fishing as the main activity. Importantly, PPE density increased significantly after lockdown measures. Additionally, the discarded PPE sampled in the supralittoral zone was higher than PPE recorded in the intertidal zone. This confirms that PPE items are driven by the beachgoers during their visit. PPE items are a source of microplastic and chemical pollutants, a substrate to invasive species colonization, and a potential threat of entanglement, ingestion, and/or infection among apex predators. In the specific case of Agadir beaches, significant efforts are required to work on the lack of environmental awareness and education. It is recommended to improve beach cleaning strategies and to penalize incorrect PPE disposal. Additional alternatives may be adopted, as the involvement of biodegradable materials in PPE manufacturing, recycling through pyrolysis, and encouraging reusable and washable masks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personal protective equipment (PPE) pollution associated with the COVID-19 pandemic along the coastline of Agadir, Morocco

Ben-Haddad

De-la-Torre

Abelouah

et al. 2021

Science of The Total Environment

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“…Collection of MPs from large amounts of natural waters is commonly limited to particles larger than 200-300 μm (Ivleva et al 2017), although other devices such as pump and/or cascade filtration systems may allow to fractionally collect MPs down to 20 μm and below (Tamminga et al 2019), particularly when high MPs concentrations make filtration of large volumes unnecessary as in the case of wastewaters (Murphy et al 2016). When it comes to more complex environmental matrices such as sediments, sludges, or soils, sieving followed by density separation and subsequent filtration is the most common procedure for collecting microplastics as small as 1-2 μm (Missawi et al 2020;Setälä et al 2016). In any case, such procedures do not ensure quantitative isolation and detection of the smallest MPs, while the nano-sized particles typically go undetected.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New methodologies for the detection, identification, and quantification of microplastics and their environmental degradation by-products

Castelvetro

Corti

Biale

et al. 2021

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Sampling, separation, detection, and characterization of microplastics (MPs) dispersed in natural water bodies and ecosystems is a challenging and critical issue for a better understanding of the hazards for the environment posed by such nearly ubiquitous and still largely unknown form of pollution. There is still the need for exhaustive, reliable, accurate, reasonably fast, and cost-efficient analytical protocols allowing the quantification not only of MPs but also of nanoplastics (NPs) and of the harmful molecular pollutants that may result from degrading plastics. Here a set of newly developed analytical protocols, integrated with specialized techniques such as pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS), for the accurate and selective determination of the polymers most commonly found as MPs polluting marine and freshwater sediments are presented. In addition, the results of an investigation on the low molecular weight volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released upon photo-oxidative degradation of microplastics highlight the important role of photoinduced fragmentation at a molecular level both as a potential source of hazardous chemicals and as accelerators of the overall degradation of floating or stranded plastic debris.

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“…There have been several recent studies in the southern part of the Western Mediterranean basin. In that context, Missawi et al [107] and Abidli et al [2] reported almost identical average levels of MPs in sediments in Tunisia (315 and 316 MPs/kg d.w., respectively; Table 6), albeit the highest concentrations observed by Abidli et al [2] were in the Bizerte Lagoon (461.25 ± 29.74 MPs/kg), whereas the highest concentration observed by Missawi et al [107] were offshore in the Gulf of Cabes (606 ± 37.5 MPs/kg). Both these locations are reportedly heavily polluted by agricultural, aquaculture and industrial wastewaters.…”

Section: Microplastics In Marine Sedimentsmentioning

confidence: 90%

Microplastics in the Mediterranean marine environment: a combined bibliometric and systematic analysis to identify current trends and challenges

Papadimitriu¹,

Allinson²

2022

Micropl.&Nanopl.

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In recent decades, the potential toxicological and environmental effects of microplastics (MPs) in the Mediterranean Sea region have received growing attention. The number of studies in this area has increased; however, presently there is no scientometric perspective addressing this topic. The purpose of this study was to identify the intellectual base and research front using the visualization and analysis software, CiteSpace, in combination with a systematic review. We retrieved 150 articles, published in print or online as an early-access article between 1979 and 2020, from the Web of Science with a topic search related to MPs, environment, and uptake by biota. We then analysed synthesized networks of co-authorship (author, institution, country), co-citation (author document, journal) and co-occurring keywords. The annual publication output has trended upwards since 2011, with interest in MP abundance in the Mediterranean Sea particularly high in the past 5 years (2016–2020). Authors based in Italy accounted for 25% of the total publications, followed by Spain (16%); but overall publications from Belgium and the Netherlands were more influential. Major research themes identified include the abundance of MPs on beaches, in surface waters, sediments and biota. Secondary microplastics, such fibres and fragments, of a wide range of sizes and chemical composition were dominant in scientific reports, albeit citizen science collection of plastic resin pellets for International Pellet Watch suggests such primary MPs are also widespread, even if their numerical abundance from such collections is unclear. Few studies reported chemical contamination of MPs in the Mediterranean albeit a significant amount of information on the level of chemical contamination of plastic resin pellets is available on the International Pellet Watch website.

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Abundance and distribution of small microplastics (≤ 3 μm) in sediments and seaworms from the Southern Mediterranean coasts and characterisation of their potential harmful effects.

Cited by 74 publications

References 76 publications

Personal protective equipment (PPE) pollution associated with the COVID-19 pandemic along the coastline of Agadir, Morocco

Personal protective equipment (PPE) pollution associated with the COVID-19 pandemic along the coastline of Agadir, Morocco

New methodologies for the detection, identification, and quantification of microplastics and their environmental degradation by-products

Microplastics in the Mediterranean marine environment: a combined bibliometric and systematic analysis to identify current trends and challenges

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