Spatial distribution and increase of microplastics over time in sediments of Buenaventura Bay, Colombian Pacific

Abstract

The increase in production, consumption and inadequate disposition of plastics has generated an accumulation of these elements in marine ecosystems, which have become important microplastics sinks (< 5 mm). The objective of this research was to determine the temporal and spatial differences in the density, distribution, and type of microplastics in the sediments of Buenaventura Bay. For this purpose, sediment samples were collected in the internal estuary (close to the rivers) and in the external estuary (with a greater marine influence). Samples were obtained in the dry, transition, and rainy season for the years 2015 and 2019. Microplastics were extracted by density separation method, each particle was classified and measured by optical microscopy. Density ranged from 11 to 1,354 particles/kg, with averages of 194.9 ± 51.3 and 359.6 ± 88.0 particles/kg for the years 2015 and 2019, respectively, reporting an increase of 84.4 %. The internal estuary presented a higher density in both years and the fibers constituted the most common form of microplastic particles, with 63.7 % for 2015 and 56.03 % for 2019. The presence and increasing accumulation of microplastics generates risks and adverse effects for the marine communities; additionally it coul compromise the food safety for coastal human populations.

Microplastics Occurrence in Fish from Tocagua Lake, Low Basin Magdalena River, Colombia

“…It is noteworthy that studies on rural lakes worldwide have low representativeness [69]. In Colombia, contributions to the knowledge of microplastic pollution have focused on marine coastal ecosystems, such as beaches [40][41][42][43][44][45] and coastal lagoons [39,[70][71][72], and a few have focused on continental wetlands [49]. In this study, the temporal variation did not show differential values for the mean abundance of microplastics in water.…”

“…In Colombia, there are few investigations on microplastics, and the existing reports in the literature follow the global trend: (i) mostly in coastal and marine environments [39][40][41][42][43][44][45]; (ii) the consequences of excessive consumption of plastic and environmental impacts, including MPs pollution emerging in inland waters, are not known in detail [1][2][3]. Therefore, there is an urgent need to encourage and increase research to determine the effects of MP pollution on aquatic environments in Colombia.…”

Estudo das fontes de poluição por microplásticos recorrentes na Baía de Guanabara, Rio de Janeiro

“…Enquanto em águas de superfície de outras baías densamente urbanizadas o resultado médio de partículas/m 3 foi de 3,98 em Tóquio -Japão (Nakano et al, 2021), 4,5 na Flórida -EUA (Mceachern et al, 2019), 0,16 na Baía de Chesapeake -EUA (Bikker et al, 2020) e 8,9 em Xiangshan -China (Chen et al, 2018). Por fim, os sedimentos na Baía de Tampa -EUA apresentaram uma variação de 30 -790 partículas/kg (Mceachern et al, 2019) e na Baía de Buenaventura 11-1355 partículas/kg (Vasquez-Molano et al, 2021). A tendência é que com maiores impactos antropogênicos nessas áreas a presença de micropoluentes plásticos intensifique ainda mais (Hitchcock & Mitrovic, 2019).…”