Characteristics of microplastics in sediment, seawater and marine invertebrates from urban, aquafarm and rural areas

Abstract

Microplastics have become a global environmental concern because of their widespread presence in coastal areas, the open ocean, and polar regions. Microplastics in the environment originate from a variety of sources including land- and sea-based sources. Regional or local human activity may affect the abundance and contamination characteristics of microplastics in its surrounding environment, which may be reflected to marine species living in its water body and transfer through their food web. This study investigated the contamination characteristics of microplastics in abiotic matrices such as seawater and sediment, and biotic matrices such as oyster, mussel, and lugworm from urban, aquafarm, and rural areas.In abiotic matrices, different polymeric composition of microplastic was found between 3 regions. High diversity is found in polymer types from urban area, implying diverse sources of microplastic in this area. Polystyrene is relatively abundant in aqua farm area, reflecting the wide use of expanded polystyrene buoys. In rural area, polypropylene is relatively abundant, probably related with wide use of PP rope in fishing activity. Microplastic compositions in marine invertebrates were follow similar pattern with those in abiotic matrices. This result implies that accumulation profile of microplastics by marine invertebrates is reflected regional human activities.