Microplastic contamination of the drilling bivalve Hiatella arctica in Arctic rhodolith beds

Abstract

There is an increasing number of studies reporting microplastic (MP) contamination in the Arctic environment. We analysed MP abundance in samples from a marine Arctic ecosystem that has not been investigated in this context and that features a high biodiversity: hollow rhodoliths gouged by the bivalve Hiatella arctica. This bivalve is a filter feeder that potentially accumulates MPs and may therefore reflect MP contamination of the rhodolith ecosystem at northern Svalbard. Our analyses revealed that 100% of the examined specimens were contaminated with MP, ranging between one and 184 MP particles per bivalve in samples from two water depths. Polymer composition and abundance differed strongly between both water depths: samples from 40 m water depth showed a generally higher concentration of MPs and were clearly dominated by polystyrene, samples from 27 m water depth were more balanced in composition, mainly consisting of polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and polypropylene. Long-term consequences of MP contamination in the investigated bivalve species and for the rhodolith bed ecosystem are yet unclear. However, the uptake of MPs may potentially impact H. arctica and consequently its functioning as ecosystem engineers in Arctic rhodolith beds.

Oysters and mussels as equivalent sentinels of microplastics and natural particles in coastal environments

“…However, a special glance for targeting PP was proposed in a meta-analysis performed by Erni-Cassola et al (2019). We endorse this statement that corroborates our results, considering the PP high percentage found in bivalves from SES and other locations (Ding et al, 2018;Rios-Fuster et al, 2022;Teichert et al, 2021).…”

Microplastics in Arctic invertebrates: status on occurrence and recommendations for future monitoring

“…Of the individuals collected, 69% contained one or more MPs with an average of 1.2 ± 1.1 particles per individual (von Friesen, 2018). In Arctic rhodolith beds at Northern Svalbard Hiatella arctica was found to contain from 1 to 184 MPs per bivalve (Teichert et al, 2021). Crustaceans Preliminary studies have shown that approximately 20% of snow crabs (Chionoecetes opilio) in the Barents Sea contained MPs in their stomachs, although chemical polymer identification was not used in this study (Sundet, 2014).…”

“…Blue mussels are, however, rarely found in the higher Arctic (e.g., Svalbard, Northern Greenland, Canadian Arctic) and "substitution species" with comparable feeding strategies should thus be used, e.g. the Greenland smoothcockle (Serripes groenlandicus), or the wrinkled rock-borer (Hiatella arctica) (Bråte et al 2020), Granberg et al, 2020;Teichert et al, 2021). MPs content have been analysed in samples of the suspension feeding bivalve, Greenland smoothcockle (Serripes groenlandicus), collected in Kongsfjorden and Rijpfjorden, Svalbard.…”

Towards Risk Assessments of Microplastics in Bivalve Mollusks Globally

“…Among these studies, a total of 61 studies that met the eligibility criteria set for studies were screened using for this study, but data from 52 studies concerning microplastic abundances in bivalves were included in the further analysis. The remaining five studies were excluded mainly because the authors did not provide gram-based abundance data (items/g, wet weight) [27][28][29][30][31]. In addition, one study published by Murphy [32], which calculated the abundance using microplastic numbers per gram unit, was also excluded in the subsequent analysis since the data deviated from the distribution range of abundance data.…”