State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Wuhan 430072, China.
State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong SAR, China.
Environ Sci Technol. 2017 Apr 4;51(7):3794-3801. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.7b00369. Epub 2017 Mar 23.
Microplastic pollution in inland waters is receiving growing attentions. Reservoirs are suspected to be particularly vulnerable to microplastic pollution. However, very limited information is currently available on pollution characteristics of microplastics in reservoir ecosystems. This work studied the distribution and characteristics of microplastics in the backwater area of Xiangxi River, a typical tributary of the Three Gorges Reservoir. Microplastics were detected in both surface water and sediment with concentrations ranging from 0.55 × 10 to 342 × 10 items km and 80 to 864 items m, respectively. Polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene were identified in surface water, whereas polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyethylene terephthalate, and pigments were observed in sediment. In addition, microplastics were also detected in the digestion tracts of 25.7% of fish samples, and polyethylene and nylon were identified. Redundancy analysis indicates a weak correlation between microplastics and water quality variables but a negative correlation with water level of the reservoir and Secchi depth. Results from this study confirm the presence of high abundance microplastics in reservoir impacted tributaries, and suggest that water level regulated hydrodynamic condition and input of nonpoint sources are important regulators for microplastic accumulation and distribution in the backwater area of reservoir tributaries.
内陆水域中的微塑料污染受到越来越多的关注。水库被怀疑特别容易受到微塑料污染。然而，目前关于水库生态系统中微塑料污染特征的信息非常有限。本研究调查了三峡水库典型支流香溪河回水区域中微塑料的分布和特征。在地表水和沉积物中均检测到微塑料，浓度范围分别为 0.55×10 至 342×10 个 km 和 80 至 864 个 m。在地表水中鉴定出了聚乙烯、聚丙烯和聚苯乙烯，而在沉积物中则观察到了聚乙烯、聚丙烯、聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯和颜料。此外，在 25.7%的鱼类样本的消化道中也检测到了微塑料，鉴定出了聚乙烯和尼龙。冗余分析表明，微塑料与水质变量之间的相关性较弱，但与水库水位和水色深度呈负相关。本研究结果证实了高丰度微塑料存在于受水库影响的支流中，并表明水位调节水动力条件和非点源的输入是水库支流回水区微塑料积累和分布的重要调节因素。
