TY - JOUR
T1 - Plastic debris in coastal macroalgae
AU - Li, Qipei
AU - Su, Lei
AU - Ma, Cuizhu
AU - Feng, Zhihua
AU - Shi, Huahong
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2022/4/1
Y1 - 2022/4/1
N2 - Macroalgae are the most productive marine macrophytes in the coastal ecosystem. Although plastic debris has been ubiquitously detected in marine animals, little is known about plastic pollution in macroalgae and how they interact with each other. In this study, the occurrence of plastic debris including microplastics was investigated in 5 macroalgae species that are commonly found along the Chinese shorelines. These species consisted of Gracilaria lemaneiformis, Chondrus ocellatus, Ulva lactuca, Ulva prolifera and Saccharina japonica. We categorized the plastic debris into 3 size classes, i.e., macroplastics (>25 mm), mesoplastics (5–25 mm), and microplastics (1 μm–5 mm). It was shown that there were 5 loading patterns of plastic debris interaction with the macroalgae. The 5 patterns included entanglement, adherence, wrapping, embedment, and entrapment by epibionts. According to direct observations through the non-digestion method, all 3 size classes of plastics were found in the macroalgae. The abundances were 0–201.5 (macroplastics), 0–1178.0 (mesoplastics) and 0–355.6 (microplastics) items/kg dry weight, respectively. These plastics were dominated by fibers (52.2%) in shape, 1–5 mm (39.6%) in size, and polystyrene (36.5%) in composition. According to indirect observations through the digestion method, only 2 size classes of plastics were identified in the macroalgae: mesoplastics, 0 to 888.9 items/kg dry weight; microplastics, 148.1 to 5889.0 items/kg dry weight. These plastics were prevailing by fibers (71.5%) in shape, 1–5 mm (52%) in size, and polyester (29.3%) in composition. Furthermore, plastic characteristics in the detected macroalgae were related to their species, sampling regions, and beach types based on the results of similarity and principal component analysis. This study indicated that macroalgae utilized diverse pathways for loading plastics in the coastal environment. Meanwhile, environmental factors significantly influenced the distribution of plastics loaded by macroalgae.
AB - Macroalgae are the most productive marine macrophytes in the coastal ecosystem. Although plastic debris has been ubiquitously detected in marine animals, little is known about plastic pollution in macroalgae and how they interact with each other. In this study, the occurrence of plastic debris including microplastics was investigated in 5 macroalgae species that are commonly found along the Chinese shorelines. These species consisted of Gracilaria lemaneiformis, Chondrus ocellatus, Ulva lactuca, Ulva prolifera and Saccharina japonica. We categorized the plastic debris into 3 size classes, i.e., macroplastics (>25 mm), mesoplastics (5–25 mm), and microplastics (1 μm–5 mm). It was shown that there were 5 loading patterns of plastic debris interaction with the macroalgae. The 5 patterns included entanglement, adherence, wrapping, embedment, and entrapment by epibionts. According to direct observations through the non-digestion method, all 3 size classes of plastics were found in the macroalgae. The abundances were 0–201.5 (macroplastics), 0–1178.0 (mesoplastics) and 0–355.6 (microplastics) items/kg dry weight, respectively. These plastics were dominated by fibers (52.2%) in shape, 1–5 mm (39.6%) in size, and polystyrene (36.5%) in composition. According to indirect observations through the digestion method, only 2 size classes of plastics were identified in the macroalgae: mesoplastics, 0 to 888.9 items/kg dry weight; microplastics, 148.1 to 5889.0 items/kg dry weight. These plastics were prevailing by fibers (71.5%) in shape, 1–5 mm (52%) in size, and polyester (29.3%) in composition. Furthermore, plastic characteristics in the detected macroalgae were related to their species, sampling regions, and beach types based on the results of similarity and principal component analysis. This study indicated that macroalgae utilized diverse pathways for loading plastics in the coastal environment. Meanwhile, environmental factors significantly influenced the distribution of plastics loaded by macroalgae.
KW - Coastal ecosystem
KW - Loading patterns
KW - Macroalgae
KW - Macrophyte
KW - Microplastics
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85120405330
U2 - 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112464
DO - 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112464
M3 - 文章
C2 - 34856166
AN - SCOPUS:85120405330
SN - 0013-9351
VL - 205
JO - Environmental Research
JF - Environmental Research
M1 - 112464
ER -
