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1.
80% of floating plastic debris freshly washed ashore on a Dutch coast showed peckmarks made by birds at sea. They either mistake these debris for cuttlebones or simply test all floating objects. Ingestion of plastic is deleterious for marine organisms. It is urgent to set measures to plastic litter production.  相似文献   

2.
《Marine pollution bulletin》2014,78(1-2):196-200
Although contamination of the marine ecosystems by plastics is becoming recognised as a serious pollution problem, there are few studies that demonstrate the contribution made by freshwater catchments. Over a three month period from September to December 2012, at seven localities in the upper Thames estuary, 8490 submerged plastic items were intercepted in eel fyke nets anchored to the river bed. Whilst there were significant differences in the numbers of items at these locations, the majority were some type of plastic. Additionally in excess of 20% of the litter items were components of sanitary products. The most contaminated sites were in the vicinity of sewage treatment works. While floating litter is visible, this study also demonstrates that a large unseen volume of submerged plastic is flowing into the marine environment. It is therefore important that this sub-surface component is considered when assessing plastic pollution input into the sea.  相似文献   

3.
There is considerable concern about the hazards that plastic debris presents to wildlife. Use of polymers that degrade more quickly than conventional plastics presents a possible solution to this problem. Here we investigate breakdown of two oxo-biodegradable plastics, compostable plastic and standard polyethylene in the marine environment. Tensile strength of all materials decreased during exposure, but at different rates. Compostable plastic disappeared from our test rig between 16 and 24 weeks whereas approximately 98% of the other plastics remained after 40 weeks. Some plastics require UV light to degrade. Transmittance of UV through oxo-biodegradable and standard polyethylene decreased as a consequence of fouling such that these materials received ~ 90% less UV light after 40 weeks. Our data indicate that compostable plastics may degrade relatively quickly compared to oxo-biodegradable and conventional plastics. While degradable polymers offer waste management solutions, there are limitations to their effectiveness in reducing hazards associated with plastic debris.  相似文献   

4.
Early microbial biofilm formation on marine plastic debris   总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2  
An important aspect of the global problem of plastic debris pollution is plastic buoyancy. There is some evidence that buoyancy is influenced by attached biofilms but as yet this is poorly understood. We submerged polyethylene plastic in seawater and sampled weekly for 3 weeks in order to study early stage processes. Microbial biofilms developed rapidly on the plastic and coincided with significant changes in the physicochemical properties of the plastic. Submerged plastic became less hydrophobic and more neutrally buoyant during the experiment. Bacteria readily colonised the plastic but there was no indication that plastic-degrading microorganisms were present. This study contributes to improved understanding of the fate of plastic debris in the marine environment.  相似文献   

5.
This study reports the first inventory of physical properties of individual plastic debris in the North Atlantic. We analyzed 748 samples for size, mass, and material composition collected from surface net tows on 11 expeditions from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to the Caribbean Sea between 1991 and 2007. Particles were mostly fragments less than 10 mm in size with nearly all lighter than 0.05 g. Material densities ranged from 0.808 to 1.24 g ml−1, with about half between 0.97 and 1.04 g ml−1, a range not typically found in virgin plastics. Elemental analysis suggests that samples in this density range are consistent with polypropylene and polyethylene whose densities have increased, likely due to biofouling. Pelagic densities varied considerably from that of beach plastic debris, suggesting that plastic particles are modified during their residence at sea. These analyses provide clues in understanding particle fate and potential debris sources, and address ecological implications of pelagic plastic debris.  相似文献   

6.
This study compared marine debris ingestion of the coastal dolphins Pontoporia blainvillei and Sotalia guianensis in a sympatric area in Atlantic Ocean. Among the 89 stomach contents samples of P. blainvillei, 14 (15.7%) contained marine debris. For S. guianensis, 77 stomach contents samples were analyzed and only one of which (1.30%) contained marine debris. The debris recovered was plastic material: nylon yarns and flexible plastics. Differences in feeding habits between the coastal dolphins were found to drive their differences regarding marine debris ingestion. The feeding activity of P. blainvillei is mainly near the sea bottom, which increases its chances of ingesting debris deposited on the seabed. In contrast, S. guianensis has a near-surface feeding habit. In the study area, the seabed is the main zone of accumulation of debris, and species with some degree of association with the sea bottom may be local bioindicators of marine debris pollution.  相似文献   

7.
Plastic debris is a worldwide threat to marine environments and Portugal is not immune to it. Though never quantified, items of all sizes can be found in the Portuguese coastline; therefore the objective of this work is the identification of main size classes in stranded plastic debris. Beaches sediment was sampled and in the laboratory plastic items were sorted in 11 classes from <1 to >10 mm, counted and weighted. Plastic size ranged from 50 μm to 20 cm and microplastics (<5 mm) were the majority (72%). Most plastic fits in the smaller size classes, due to expected high residence time in the sea enhancing degradation processes, which increase surface exposure and potentially persistent organic pollutants (POP) adsorption. These results point out the important contribution of microplastics to marine debris pollution, its risks, and the need to set a higher focus on this size class.  相似文献   

8.
Plastic debris is known to undergo fragmentation at sea, which leads to the formation of microscopic particles of plastic; the so called ‘microplastics’. Due to their buoyant and persistent properties, these microplastics have the potential to become widely dispersed in the marine environment through hydrodynamic processes and ocean currents. In this study, the occurrence and distribution of microplastics was investigated in Belgian marine sediments from different locations (coastal harbours, beaches and sublittoral areas).Particles were found in large numbers in all samples, showing the wide distribution of microplastics in Belgian coastal waters. The highest concentrations were found in the harbours where total microplastic concentrations of up to 390 particles kg−1 dry sediment were observed, which is 15-50 times higher than reported maximum concentrations of other, similar study areas.The depth profile of sediment cores suggested that microplastic concentrations on the beaches reflect the global plastic production increase.  相似文献   

9.
Ingestion of anthropogenic debris represents an important threat to marine turtle populations. Information has been limited to inventories of debris ingested and its consequences, but why ingestion occurs and the conditions that enable it are less understood. Here we report on the occurrence of plastic ingestion in young green turtles (Chelonia mydas) inhabiting the Río de la Plata (SW Atlantic). This estuarine area is characterized by a frontal system that accumulates anthropogenic debris. We explored exposure of green turtles to plastic and its ingestion via debris distribution, habitat use and digestive tract examination. Results indicated that there is considerable overlap of frontal accumulated plastic and core foraging areas of the animals. Exposure results in ingestion, as shown by the high frequency of plastic found in the digestive tracts. The Río de la Plata estuarine front is an area of conservation concern for young green turtles.  相似文献   

10.
Plastics and beaches: a degrading relationship   总被引:6,自引:0,他引:6  
Plastic debris in Earth's oceans presents a serious environmental issue because breakdown by chemical weathering and mechanical erosion is minimal at sea. Following deposition on beaches, plastic materials are exposed to UV radiation and physical processes controlled by wind, current, wave and tide action. Plastic particles from Kauai's beaches were sampled to determine relationships between composition, surface textures, and plastics degradation. SEM images indicated that beach plastics feature both mechanically eroded and chemically weathered surface textures. Granular oxidation textures were concentrated along mechanically weakened fractures and along the margins of the more rounded plastic particles. Particles with oxidation textures also produced the most intense peaks in the lower wavenumber region of FTIR spectra. The textural results suggest that plastic debris is particularly conducive to both chemical and mechanical breakdown in beach environments, which cannot be said for plastics in other natural settings on Earth.  相似文献   

11.
Coastal gill net entanglement and debris intake are important threats to the survival of sea turtles. Two sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea and Chelonia mydas) were found stranded along the coast of Paraíba. After necropsy, plastic debris were found in the stomach. The debris is described. This is the first record of this sort of problem for the Paraíba littoral.  相似文献   

12.
Numerical modelling of floating debris in the world's oceans   总被引:3,自引:0,他引:3  
A global ocean circulation model is coupled to a Lagrangian particle tracking model to simulate 30 years of input, transport and accumulation of floating debris in the world ocean. Using both terrestrial and maritime inputs, the modelling results clearly show the formation of five accumulation zones in the subtropical latitudes of the major ocean basins. The relative size and concentration of each clearly illustrate the dominance of the accumulation zones in the northern hemisphere, while smaller seas surrounded by densely populated areas are also shown to have a high concentration of floating debris. We also determine the relative contribution of different source regions to the total amount of material in a particular accumulation zone. This study provides a framework for describing the transport, distribution and accumulation of floating marine debris and can be continuously updated and adapted to assess scenarios reflecting changes in the production and disposal of plastic worldwide.  相似文献   

13.
Cavernous weathering (tafoni development) occurs on coastal slopes in greenschist bedrock at elevations up to 40 m above sea level. The freshly weathered surfaces of the cavern interiors are irregular in morphology, discordant to major rock structure, formed by substantially weakened rock and associated with granular weathering debris. The weathering debris contains soluble elements in proportions similar to those present in seawater, and the penetration of elements associated with sea salts into the weathering surface to estimated depths of at least 0·1–0·2 m is indicated by the presence of chlorine. Scanning electron microscopy and microprobe analyses suggest that rock breakdown occurs principally through limited chemical weathering at grain boundaries. The mechanism for the emplacement of marine salts within sheltered rock surfaces in the tafoni is postulated to be a combination of dry deposition under turbulent atmospheric conditions and wetting by coastal fog.  相似文献   

14.
Dead stranded sea turtles were recovered and examined to determine the impact of anthropogenic debris and fishery activities on sea turtles on the coast of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. Esophagus/stomach contents of 38 juvenile green Chelonia mydas, 10 adults and sub-adults loggerhead Caretta caretta, and two leatherback Dermochelys coriacea turtles (adult or sub-adult) included plastic bags as the main debris ingested, predominated by white and colorless pieces. The ingestion of anthropogenic debris accounted for the death of 13.2% of the green turtles examined. Signs of damage over the body and carapace indicated that fishing activities caused the death of 13.6% (3/22) of loggerheads and 1.5% (1/56) of green turtles. Therefore, it appears that direct and indirect effects of fishing activities may pose a threat to these species in Brazilian waters. Other sources of plastic debris should be investigated as well as the direct impact of fisheries, especially bottom trawl and gill nets, in order to establish effective conservation action.  相似文献   

15.
Heavy oil (HO) on the sea surface penetrates into fish eggs and prevents the normal morphogenesis. To identify the toxicological effects of HO in the context of the egg types, we performed exposure experiments using floating eggs and sinking eggs. In the course of development, HO-exposed embryos of floating eggs showed abnormal morphology, whereas early larva of the sinking eggs had almost normal morphology. However, the developing peripheral nervous system of sinking eggs showed abnormal projections. These findings suggest that HO exposed fishes have problems in the developing neurons, although they have no morphological malformations. Through these observations, we conclude that HO is strongly toxic to floating eggs in the morphogenesis, and also affect the neuron development in both floating and sinking eggs.  相似文献   

16.
《Marine pollution bulletin》2012,64(5-12):297-302
Heavy oil (HO) on the sea surface penetrates into fish eggs and prevents the normal morphogenesis. To identify the toxicological effects of HO in the context of the egg types, we performed exposure experiments using floating eggs and sinking eggs. In the course of development, HO-exposed embryos of floating eggs showed abnormal morphology, whereas early larva of the sinking eggs had almost normal morphology. However, the developing peripheral nervous system of sinking eggs showed abnormal projections. These findings suggest that HO exposed fishes have problems in the developing neurons, although they have no morphological malformations. Through these observations, we conclude that HO is strongly toxic to floating eggs in the morphogenesis, and also affect the neuron development in both floating and sinking eggs.  相似文献   

17.
A high density of floating debris (approximately 2000 km?2) is reported in an area of the Mediterranean 40 miles SW of Malta. The majority of objects counted (60–70%) appeared to be pieces of plastic.  相似文献   

18.
The mechanism of bridge pier scour becomes more complex in the presence of debris accumulation upstream of the pier. While using countermeasures may be effective in reducing scour, their efficacy could be undermined in such a situation. The current study investigates the effectiveness of using a collar in the presence of different types of floating debris accumulation in reducing scour around a cylindrical bridge pier with non-cohesive bed sediment. The experimental results reveal that using a c...  相似文献   

19.
Previous studies of neustonic debris have been limited to surface sampling. Here we conducted two trawl surveys, one before and one shortly after a rain event, in which debris and zooplankton density were measured at three depths in Santa Monica Bay, California. Surface samples were collected with a manta trawl, mid-depth samples with a bongo net and bottom samples with an epibenthic sled, all having 333 micron nets. Density of debris was greatest near the bottom, least in midwater. Debris density increased after the storm, particularly at the sampling site closest to shore, reflecting inputs from land-based runoff and resuspended matter. The mass of plastic collected exceeded that of zooplankton, though when the comparison was limited to plastic debris similar to the size of most zooplankton, zooplankton mass was three times that of debris.  相似文献   

20.
每年汛期与蓄水期三峡水库近坝段水域会有大量漂浮物聚集,为探索三峡水库近坝段水域(坝前及以上约12.7km长的河段)水面漂浮物对水质的影响,2018年开展了漂浮物覆盖水体水质跟踪监测和漂浮物浸泡试验,并以20142018年的漂浮物产量和近坝段水域水质监测数据为基础进行了相关分析与回归分析.结果表明:漂浮物会提高坝前覆盖水体的氮类营养盐水平和有机污染物浓度,引起河湾漂浮物覆盖水域氨氮(NH3-N)浓度升高,致使氮类营养盐组成的变化和由于高锰酸盐指数/总有机碳比值(COD_(Mn)/TOC)的差异变化对水体产生有机污染.除NH_3-N外,坝前水域受漂浮物影响程度大于河湾区域,漂浮物对河湾水质的影响在蓄水期更为明显,漂浮物覆盖水体垂直方向上2 m内水质因子无明显分层现象;相比综合类漂浮物,植物类漂浮物对水质的影响更迅速和明显;漂浮物仅在其覆盖的水体小范围内对氮类营养盐指标造成影响,漂浮物产量的增加会增大近坝段水域水体悬浮物、有机污染物和还原性无机物质(COD_(Mn))浓度,形成一定的影响规律.因此,合理布置清漂作业点,高效及时地开展漂浮物清理工作,短期内优先打捞植物类漂浮物,合理实施水库调度以减少漂浮物聚集量与缩短滞留时长,加强漂浮物影响水体的水质监测对近坝区河段水环境保护意义重大.  相似文献   

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