Microplastic debris in sandhoppers

Ugolini, Alberto; Ungherese, Giuseppe; Ciofini, M.; Lapucci, A.; Camaiti, Mara

doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2013.05.026

Cited by 107 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Similarly, Besseling et al 15 and Ugolini et al 19 found no effect of microplastic ingestion on the survival of the adult polychaete A. marina and amphipod T. saltator. Sublethal effects of ingestion of microplastics were more apparent, manifesting as reduced larval body width.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Ingestion of Microplastic Has Limited Impact on a Marine Larva

Kaposi

Mos

Kelaher

et al. 2014

Environ. Sci. Technol.

335

150

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ABSTRACT:There is increasing concern about the impacts of microplastics (< 1mm) on marine biota. Microplastics may be mistaken for food items and ingested by a wide variety of organisms. While the effects of ingesting microplastic have been explored for some adult organisms, there is poor understanding of the effects of microplastic ingestion on marine larvae. Here, we investigated the ingestion of polyethylene microspheres by larvae of the sea urchin Tripneustes gratilla. Ingestion rates scaled with the concentration of microspheres.Ingestion rates were, however, reduced by biological fouling of microplastic and in the presence of phytoplankton food. T. gratilla larvae were able to egest microspheres from their stomach within hours of ingestion. A microsphere concentration far exceeding those recorded in the marine environment had a small non-dose dependent effect on larval growth, but there was no significant effect on survival. In contrast, environmentally realistic concentrations appeared to have little effect. Overall, these results suggest that current levels of microplastic pollution in the oceans only pose a limited threat to T. gratilla and other marine invertebrate larvae, but further research is required on a broad range of species, trophic levels and polymer types.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Ingestion of Microplastic Has Limited Impact on a Marine Larva

Kaposi

Mos

Kelaher

et al. 2014

Environ. Sci. Technol.

335

150

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“…[27][28][29][30][31] As a consequence of the uptake physical effects such as potentially fatal injuries (e.g. blockages throughout the digestive tract or lesions from sharp objects) are to be expected.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Focal plane array detector-based micro-Fourier-transform infrared imaging for the analysis of microplastics in environmental samples

et al. 2015

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Environmental context. Microplastics are of increasing environmental concern following reports that they occur worldwide from the arctic to the deep sea. However, a reliable methodology that facilitates an automated measurement of abundance and identity of microplastics is still lacking. We present an analytical protocol that applies focal plane array detector-based infrared imaging of microplastics enriched on membrane filters applicable to investigations of microplastic pollution of the environment.Abstract. The pollution of the environment with microplastics (plastic pieces ,5 mm) is a problem of increasing concern. However, although this has been generally recognised by scientists and authorities, the analysis of microplastics is often done by visual inspection alone with potentially high error rates, especially for smaller particles. Methods that allow for a fast and reliable analysis of microplastics enriched on filters are lacking. Our study is the first to fill this gap by using focal plane array detector-based micro-Fourier-transform infrared imaging for analysis of microplastics from environmental samples. As a result of our iteratively optimised analytical approach (concerning filter material, measuring mode, measurement parameters and identification protocol), we were able to successfully measure the whole surface (>10-mm diameter) of filters with microplastics from marine plankton and sediment samples. The measurement with a high lateral resolution allowed for the detection of particles down to a size of 20 mm in only a fractional part of time needed for chemical mapping. The integration of three band regions facilitated the pre-selection of potential microplastics of the ten most important polymers. Subsequent to the imaging the review of the infrared spectra of the pre-selected potential microplastics was necessary for a verification of plastic polymer origin. The approach we present here is highly suitable to be implemented as a standard procedure for the analysis of small microplastics from environmental samples. However, a further automatisation with respect to measurement and subsequent particle identification would facilitate the even faster and fully automated analysis of microplastic samples.

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“…Researchers worldwide report on the uptake of microplastics by various marine organisms (Cole et al 2013;Ugolini et al 2013;Foekema et al 2013;Murray and Cowie 2011;Browne et al 2008). Ingestion of microplastics may lead to "… potentially fatal injuries such as blockages throughout the digestive system or abrasions from sharp objects…" (Wright et al 2013), which, in contrast to macroplastics, mainly affect microorganisms, smaller invertebrates or larvae.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methodology Used for the Detection and Identification of Microplastics—A Critical Appraisal

Löder

Gerdts

2015

Marine Anthropogenic Litter

368

320

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Microplastics in aquatic ecosystems and especially in the marine environment represent a pollution of increasing scientific and societal concern, thus, recently a substantial number of studies on microplastics were published. Although first steps towards a standardization of methodologies used for the detection and identification of microplastics in environmental samples are made, the comparability of data on microplastics is currently hampered by a huge variety of different methodologies, which result in the generation of data of extremely different quality and resolution. This chapter reviews the methodology presently used for assessing the concentration of microplastics in the marine environment with a focus on the most convenient techniques and approaches. After an overview of non-selective sampling approaches, sample processing and treatment in the laboratory, the reader is introduced to the currently applied techniques for the identification and quantification of microplastics. The subsequent case study on microplastics in sediment samples from the North Sea measured with focal plane array (FPA)-based micro-Fourier transform infrared (micro-FTIR) spectroscopy shows that only 1.4 % of the particles visually resembling microplastics were of synthetic polymer origin. This finding emphasizes the importance of verifying the synthetic polymer origin of potential microplastics. Thus, a burning issue concerning current microplastic research is the generation of standards that allow for the assessment of reliable data on concentrations of microscopic plastic particles and the involved polymers with analytical laboratory techniques such as micro-FTIR or micro-Raman spectroscopy.

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Microplastic debris in sandhoppers

Cited by 107 publications

References 29 publications

Ingestion of Microplastic Has Limited Impact on a Marine Larva

Ingestion of Microplastic Has Limited Impact on a Marine Larva

Focal plane array detector-based micro-Fourier-transform infrared imaging for the analysis of microplastics in environmental samples

Methodology Used for the Detection and Identification of Microplastics—A Critical Appraisal

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