Microplastics in the marine environments: Emerging contaminant of concern

Title
Microplastics in the marine environments: Emerging contaminant of concern
Author(s)
심원준; 홍상희
KIOST Author(s)
Shim, Won Joon(심원준)Hong, Sang Hee(홍상희)
Alternative Author(s)
심원준; 홍상희
Publication Year
2017-12-22
Abstract
Global concern over marine plastic pollution resulting from our end-of-life plastic has grown rapidly since the presence of microscopic plastic particles in the ocean and an increasing trend in their abundance were documented in the early 2000s. Microplastics either engineered or fragmented from large plastic debris in the environment present different challenges to larger items which have been widely documented since the 1960s. Microplastics are widely distributed, from lakes to the open ocean, in surface water and deep sea sediments and in various organisms through the trophic levels. As large items fragment into microplastics the abundance of litter increases, and this effectively increases their availability to wildlife. Furthermore, decreasing particle size increases the range of organisms that can ingest the debris. Hence smaller plastics become more bioavailable particularly to small organisms. This increased surface area increases the potential for leaching or desorption of additive or adsorbed chemicals to an organism upon ingestion. However, because of their size detecting presence of microplastics and adverse biological effects, if any, becomes considerably more challenging. In addition, the persistence of plastic particles in the environment can increase because small plastic particles would be extremely difficult to remove from the environment manually. Commercial species such as mussels, oysters, lobste000s. Microplastics either engineered or fragmented from large plastic debris in the environment present different challenges to larger items which have been widely documented since the 1960s. Microplastics are widely distributed, from lakes to the open ocean, in surface water and deep sea sediments and in various organisms through the trophic levels. As large items fragment into microplastics the abundance of litter increases, and this effectively increases their availability to wildlife. Furthermore, decreasing particle size increases the range of organisms that can ingest the debris. Hence smaller plastics become more bioavailable particularly to small organisms. This increased surface area increases the potential for leaching or desorption of additive or adsorbed chemicals to an organism upon ingestion. However, because of their size detecting presence of microplastics and adverse biological effects, if any, becomes considerably more challenging. In addition, the persistence of plastic particles in the environment can increase because small plastic particles would be extremely difficult to remove from the environment manually. Commercial species such as mussels, oysters, lobste
URI
https://sciwatch.kiost.ac.kr/handle/2020.kiost/23493
Bibliographic Citation
The 3rd International Conference on Environmental Pollution and Health, pp.1, 2017
Publisher
Jinan
Type
Conference
Language
English
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