Incidence and identification of microfibers in ocean waters in Admiralty Bay, Antarctica

Absher, Theresinha Monteiro; Ferreira, Silvio Luiz; Kern, Yargos; Ferreira, Augusto Luiz; Christo, Susete Wambier; Ando, Rômulo Augusto

doi:10.1007/s11356-018-3509-6

Cited by 82 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The presence of plastics has been documented in different places in Antarctica: marine surface waters (Cincinelli et al, 2017;Isobe et al, 2017;Jones-Williams et al, 2020;Lacerda et al, 2019;Suaria et al, 2020), marine sediments (Cunningham et al, 2020;Munari et al, 2017;Reed et al, 2018), zooplankton samples from ocean water (Absher et al, 2019), marine benthic invertebrates (Sfriso et al, 2020), Antarctic Collembola (Bergami et al, 2020b), penguins (Bessa et al, 2019), seabirds (Ibañez et al, 2020) and fresh water (González-Pleiter et al, 2020b). However, there was only one study showing the occurrence of plastics in the Antarctic cryosphere, which was carried out on sea ice (Kelly et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A pilot study about microplastics and mesoplastics in an Antarctic glacier

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Plastics have been found in several compartments in Antarctica. However, there is currently no evidence of their presence on Antarctic glaciers. Our pilot study investigated plastic occurrence on two ice surfaces (one area around Uruguay Lake and another one around Ionosferico Lake) that constitute part of the ablation zone of Collins Glacier (King George Island, Antarctica). Our results showed that expanded polystyrene (EPS) was ubiquitous, ranging from 0.17 to 0.33 items m−2, whereas polyester was found only on the ice surface around Uruguay Lake (0.25 items m−2). Furthermore, we evaluated the daily changes in the presence of plastics in these areas in the absence of rainfall to clarify the role of the wind in their transport. We registered an atmospheric dry deposition rate between 0.08 items m−2 d−1 on the ice surface around Uruguay Lake and 0.17 items m−2 d−1 on the ice surface around Ionosferico Lake. Our pilot study is the first report of plastic pollution presence on an Antarctic glacier, possibly originated from local current and past activities and likely deposited by wind transport.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A pilot study about microplastics and mesoplastics in an Antarctic glacier

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Microplastic fragments of different shapes and colours will be difficult to trace to source based simply on polymer composition. Moreover, currently available information on the distribution of microplastics is not sufficient to identify potential sources of microplastic pollution and hence now warrants further assessment 47,48 . In the southwest Atlantic, additional point sources from anthropogenic activities can be diverse including direct sources via disposal, inadequate management of waste produced by ships or from touristic activitites 17 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Existing data on the concentration of a range of other persistent contaminants in air, snow and marine organisms in the Antarctic environment has already demonstrated that these pollutants are transported from other continents in the Southern Ocean 49 , and this could be also the case with plastic debris. For this reason, it is also important to point out the potential contribution of the atmospheric fallout 48,50 as input of microplastics, especially microfibers in this area.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics in gentoo penguins from the Antarctic region

Bessa

Ratcliffe

Otero

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

200

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is growing evidence that microplastic pollution (<5 mm in size) is now present in virtually all marine ecosystems, even in remote areas, such as the Arctic and the Antarctic. Microplastics have been found in water and sediments of the Antarctic but little is known of their ingestion by higher predators and mechanisms of their entry into Antarctic marine food webs. The goal of this study was to assess the occurrence of microplastics in a top predator, the gentoo penguin Pygoscelis papua from the Antarctic region (Bird Island, South Georgia and Signy Island, South Orkney Islands) and hence assess the potential for microplastic transfer through Antarctic marine food webs. To achieve this, the presence of microplastics in scats (as a proof of ingestion) was investigated to assess the viability of a non-invasive approach for microplastic analyses in Antarctic penguins. A total of 80 penguin scats were collected and any microplastics they contained were extracted. A total of 20% of penguin scats from both islands contained microplastics, consisting mainly of fibers and fragments with different sizes and polymer composition (mean abundance of microplastics: 0.23 ± 0.53 items individual−1 scat, comprising seven different polymers), which were lower values than those found for seabirds in other regions worldwide. No significant differences in microplastic numbers in penguin scats between the two regions were detected. These data highlight the need for further assessment of the levels of microplastics in this sensitive region of the planet, specifically studies on temporal trends and potential effects on penguins and other organisms in the Antarctic marine food web.

show abstract

“…Microplastics were also found in samples originally collected for zooplankton studies. This was the case of the samples collected in Admiralty Bay (King George Island) during the XXIX Brazilian Antarctic Expedition (2010-2011) where Absher et al (2019) found an average concentration of 2.40 AE 4.57 Â 10 À2 microfibers m À3 . The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) identified the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) surveys, which began in the Southern Ocean in 1991, as a potential source of information about microplastic distribution and abundance in Antarctica.…”

Section: Microplastics In Antarctica: Presence Distribution and Possmentioning

confidence: 93%

Microplastics in Polar Samples

Tirelli

Suaria

Lusher

2020

Handbook of Microplastics in the Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Microplastics are increasingly recognized as being globally widespread, but relatively little is known about the presence and abundance of microplastics in samples collected in Polar Regions. Here we review the current knowledge about microplastic occurrence and distribution in polar environments, with a particular focus on the relevance of the data and comparability between Arctic and Antarctic investigations. In the Arctic, microplastics have been found in seawater, marine sediments, ice, and snow and in the gut content of several species at different

show abstract

Incidence and identification of microfibers in ocean waters in Admiralty Bay, Antarctica

Cited by 82 publications

References 34 publications

A pilot study about microplastics and mesoplastics in an Antarctic glacier

A pilot study about microplastics and mesoplastics in an Antarctic glacier

Microplastics in gentoo penguins from the Antarctic region

Microplastics in Polar Samples

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About