Department of Biology, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge Campus, East Road, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB1 1PT, UK.
School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen's University Marine Laboratory, 12-13 The Strand, Portaferry BT22 1PF, Northern Ireland, UK.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2018 Dec;137:695-701. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.11.004. Epub 2018 Nov 15.
To date there is no gold standard for sampling microplastics. Zooplankton sampling methods, such as plankton and Neuston nets, are commonly used to estimate the concentrations of microplastics in seawater, but their ability to detect microplastics is limited by their mesh size. We compared different net-based sampling methods with different mesh sizes including bongo nets (>500 μm), manta nets (>300 μm) and plankton nets (>200 μm and >400 μm) to 1 litre bottle grabbed, filtered (0.45 μm) samples. Concentrations of microplastics estimated using net-based methods were ~3 orders of magnitude less than those estimated by 1 litre grab samples. Some parts of the world with low human populations, such as Ascension Island and the Falkland Islands, lack baseline data on microplastics. Using the bottle grab sampling method we found that microplastic litter was present at these remote locations and was comparable to levels of contamination in more populated coastal regions, such as the United Kingdom.
迄今为止，尚无用于采集微塑料的金标准。浮游动物采样方法，如浮游生物和 Neuston 网，常用于估算海水中微塑料的浓度，但它们检测微塑料的能力受到网眼尺寸的限制。我们比较了不同网具采样方法与不同网眼尺寸（包括 bongo 网（>500 μm）、manta 网（>300 μm）和浮游生物网（>200 μm 和 >400 μm）与 1 升瓶抓样、过滤（0.45 μm）样品。基于网具的方法估算的微塑料浓度比 1 升抓样方法估算的浓度低约 3 个数量级。世界上一些人口较少的地区，如阿森松岛和福克兰群岛，缺乏微塑料的基线数据。使用瓶抓采样法，我们发现这些偏远地区存在微塑料垃圾，其污染程度与英国等人口较多的沿海地区相当。
