Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region; Shenzhen Research Institute, City University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen 518057, PR China.
Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Environ Pollut. 2018 May;236:208-217. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.01.031.
Most of the previous studies of microplastic pollution on coastal habitats focused on high energy beaches although low energy areas such as mudflats are supposed to retain more microplastics, not to mention that mudflats are biologically more diverse. We quantified and characterized microplastics from 10 mudflats and 10 sandy beaches in Hong Kong spanning from the eastern to western waters. Sediment samples were collected at 1.0 m and 1.5 m above chart datum (CD) and at the strandline. Abundance of microplastics ranged between 0.58 and 2116 items kg sediment with that on mudflats being ten times more than on beaches. Polyethylene (46.9%) was the most abundant and followed by polypropylene (13.8%) and polyethylene terephthalate (13.5%). Expanded polystyrene was the most abundant in the strandline samples but not at 1.0 m and 1.5 m above CD. Although previous studies have concluded that the input from Pearl River is a major source of microplastics on Hong Kong shores, this study has demonstrated that the contribution of local pollution sources such as discharge from sewage treatment plants to microplastic pollution should not be neglected.
先前对沿海栖息地微塑料污染的研究大多集中在高能量海滩上，尽管低能量区域（如泥滩）应该保留更多的微塑料，更不用说泥滩在生物多样性方面更为丰富。我们从香港的 10 个泥滩和 10 个沙滩中量化和描述了微塑料，这些沙滩的范围从东部水域到西部水域。沉积物样本分别在比海图基准面高 1.0 米和 1.5 米处以及在滨线处采集。微塑料的丰度范围在 0.58 到 2116 个/千克沉积物之间，泥滩上的微塑料丰度是沙滩上的十倍。聚乙烯（46.9%）是最丰富的，其次是聚丙烯（13.8%）和聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（13.5%）。膨胀聚苯乙烯在滨线样本中最为丰富，但在比海图基准面高 1.0 米和 1.5 米处则不然。尽管先前的研究得出结论，珠江的输入是香港海岸微塑料的主要来源，但本研究表明，不应忽视当地污染源（如污水处理厂的排放）对微塑料污染的贡献。
