Microplastics pollution in the South American Pantanal

Faria, Érika de; Girard, Pierre; Nardes, Carolina Silva; Moreschi, Andressa; Christo, Susete Wambier; Ferreira, Augusto Luiz; Costa, Mônica F.

doi:10.1016/j.cscee.2021.100088

Cited by 15 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This change in hydrodynamic conditions would force the settling of larger microplastic particles as we observed. Conversely, in the floodplain, particles sizes are generally finer, probably due to the fact that in the Pantanal the current speed reduces drastically and, like the sediments, the finer microplastics tend to be deposited (De Faria et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Pantanal, a UNESCO World Heritage, is the largest American continental wetland and it is a largely suffering from anthropogenic pressures (Junk et al, 2006;Alho et al, 2019). Microplastics are an emerging environmental threat, however, in the Pantanal, only one study on microplastics in the water column was found in the literature (De Faria et al, 2021). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on microplastic contamination in the Pantanal sediments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Microplastics identified at this step were counted and regrouped according to their type and color. The particle size was measured by analyzing the pictures of each microplastic confirmed by RAMAN (Chen et al, 2019;Prata et al, 2019;De Faria et al, 2021).…”

Section: Microscopic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this metropolitan area, ca. 50% of the wastewater is neither collected nor treated (De Faria et al, 2021). Downstream of this dense urban area, the river crosses the cities of Santo Antônio de Leverger (18,000 inhabitants), with only 10.4% of the wastewater being treated (De Faria et al, 2021) and Barão de Melgaço (8,164 inhabitants), before continuing its course in the Pantanal floodplains.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Microplastics in sediments of the Pantanal Wetlands, Brazil

Camargo

Girard

Sanz‐Lázaro

et al. 2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Microplastics (<5 mm) can have negative and deleterious environmental effects. However, the scarce information on the levels of microplastics and the factors underlying their input in wetlands, limits the understating of the vulnerability of these ecosystems to microplastics. To contribute closing this important information gap, the concentration (items/m−2), size and the variables related to the distribution of microplastics in fluvial sediments of the Cuiabá River, a tributary of the Pantanal, the world largest flooded Savanna and a UNESCO World Heritage were investigated. The mean microplastic level was 576.8 ± 577.8 items/m−2 of sediments which were mainly fragments (309.0 ± 319.6 items/m−2) and fibers (267.8 ± 339.9 items/m−2). The maximum level was 1938.8 items/m−2 found in the urban stretch of the sister cities of Cuiabá and Várzea Grande, the largest urban agglomeration in the study area. Unexpectedly, the composition of the microplastic with highest average level (240.7 ± 310.4 items/m−2), a blue synthetic fiber, could not be unequivocally determined by RAMAN spectrometry. Its complex composition includes Pb, Li and Nb, suggesting it may derive from electronic waste. Polypropylene (159.2 ± 133.4 items/m−2) and Polyvinyl Chloride (104.6 ± 217.2 items/m−2) were the second and third polymers with higher average levels. The average size of microplastics particles in sampling sites ranged from 0.18 mm to 1.74 mm. Microplastic concentration was positively related to urban areas. Similarly, microplastics particles size decreased with distance from urban areas. These results suggest that urban areas along the Cuiabá River, with poor waste management, are a major source of microplastic pollution in the Pantanal floodplain and that electronic waste might contribute significantly to this contamination. This study highlights the importance of adequate waste management in cities to limit microplastic contamination in areas of ecological importance, such as the Pantanal.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Microscopic Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Microplastics in sediments of the Pantanal Wetlands, Brazil

Camargo

Girard

Sanz‐Lázaro

et al. 2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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“…Due to their small size, MPs are present in the air, soil, sewage, and water bodies such as lakes, rivers, and oceans (Andrady, 2017;Koelmans et al, 2019;Li C. et al, 2020;De Faria et al, 2021). The most recent studies have shown the presence of MPs even in remote locations, such as remote mountain areas (Free et al, 2014;Pastorino et al, 2021;Padha et al, 2022) or frozen water lakes in the Arctic (González-Pleiter et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microsynthetics in waters of the South American Pantanal

Faria

Girard²,

Camargo³

et al. 2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Microplastics are an emerging global threat to freshwater ecosystems. There is a growing number of microplastic studies in wetlands and floodplains such as the Pantanal. Microplastics in the Pantanal’s water courses, lakes, and floodplains were sampled with a plankton net in 16 locations in the Pantanal lowlands at varying distances from their potential urban sources over 2 years. Microplastics from the water samples were separated from sediments and organic matter and examined under a stereomicroscope to be identified and counted. Visual determination was then confirmed by RAMAN spectrometry. We found 730 microplastics. The average ± std microplastic concentration was 38 ± 16 x/m3, ranging between 10 and 100 x/m3. Fibres, fragments, and films represented 68%, 28%, and 4%, respectively, of the total microplastics. Surprisingly, a synthetic blue fibre of non-identified composition accounted for 51.0% of the microplastics. Other identified polymers included PP (18.2%), PET (16.9%), PVC (5.1%), PVA (4.4%) and LDPE (4.4%). The blue fibres, PP, and PET were found at all sampling locations. Microplastic concentrations varied from 27 ± 12 x/m3 to 48 ± 21 x/m3 across the sampling sites. Microplastics’ average size was 0.51 ± 0.21 mm, ranging from 0.06 to 0.97 mm. In the study area, the average seasonal concentrations varied from 34 ± 11 to 43 ± 18 x/m3 during the 2 years study period (2018–2019). In lentic environments, the median concentrations (30 x/m3) were significantly lower than in the lotic ones (40 x/m3). Urban human activities are a potential source of microplastics as the concentration of these increased significantly with the population of the nearest human agglomeration. These results indicate widespread contamination of the Pantanal waters by microplastics. Furthermore, a microsynthetic of indeterminate composition is found everywhere in the Pantanal, and more research is urgently needed to determine its composition and sources. The contamination by micropolymers and other microsynthetics will likely impact the Pantanal biota and, eventually, humans living in these floodplains.

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Discovering untapped microbial communities through metagenomics for microplastic remediation: recent advances, challenges, and way forward

Wani

Akhtar

Naqash

et al. 2023

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous pollutants persisting almost everywhere in the environment. With the increase in anthropogenic activities, MP accumulation is increasing enormously in aquatic, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems. Owing to the slow degradation of plastics, MPs show an increased biomagnification probability of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic substances thereby creating a threat to environmental biota. Thus, remediation of MP-pollutants requires efficient strategies to circumvent the mobilization of contaminants leaching into the water, soil, and ultimately to human beings. Over the years, several microorganisms have been characterized by the potential to degrade different plastic polymers through enzymatic actions. Metagenomics (MGs) is an effective way to discover novel microbial communities and access their functional genetics for the exploration and characterization of plastic-degrading microbial consortia and enzymes. MGs in combination with metatranscriptomics and metabolomics approaches are a powerful tool to identify and select remediation-efficient microbes in situ. Advancement in bioinformatics and sequencing tools allows rapid screening, mining, and prediction of genes that are capable of polymer degradation. This review comprehensively summarizes the growing threat of microplastics around the world and highlights the role of MGs and computational biology in building effective response strategies for MP remediation.

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Microplastics pollution in the South American Pantanal

Cited by 15 publications

References 34 publications

Microplastics in sediments of the Pantanal Wetlands, Brazil

Microplastics in sediments of the Pantanal Wetlands, Brazil

Microsynthetics in waters of the South American Pantanal

Discovering untapped microbial communities through metagenomics for microplastic remediation: recent advances, challenges, and way forward

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