Marine Zoology Unit, Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Parc Científic, University of Valencia, Spain.
Marine Zoology Unit, Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, Parc Científic, University of Valencia, Spain.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2020 Nov;160:111557. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111557. Epub 2020 Sep 6.
Litter is a well-known problem for marine species; however, we still know little about the extent to which they're affected by microplastics. In this study, we analyse the presence of this type of debris in Western Mediterranean striped dolphins' intestinal contents over three decades. Results indicated that frequency was high, as 90.5% of dolphins contained microplastics. Of these microplastics, 73.6% were fibres, 23.87% were fragments and 2.53% were primary pellets. In spite of the high frequency of occurrence, microplastic amount per dolphin was relatively low and highly variable (mean ± SD = 14.9 ± 22.3; 95% CI: 9.58-23.4). Through FT-IR spectrometry, we found that polyacrylamide, typically found in synthetic clothes, was the most common plastic polymer. Here, we establish a starting point for further research on how microplastics affect this species' health and discuss the use of striped dolphins as indicators of microplastics at sea.
垃圾是海洋物种面临的一个众所周知的问题；然而，我们仍然不太了解它们受到微塑料影响的程度。在这项研究中，我们分析了 30 多年来西地中海条纹海豚肠道内容物中存在这种碎片的情况。结果表明，这种情况的频率很高，90.5%的海豚体内都含有微塑料。在这些微塑料中，73.6%是纤维，23.87%是碎片，2.53%是原始颗粒。尽管出现的频率很高，但每只海豚体内的微塑料数量相对较低且高度可变（平均值 ± 标准差 = 14.9 ± 22.3；95%CI：9.58-23.4）。通过傅里叶变换红外光谱（FT-IR）分析，我们发现聚丙酰胺是最常见的塑料聚合物，通常用于合成衣物。在这里，我们为进一步研究微塑料如何影响该物种的健康状况奠定了基础，并讨论了使用条纹海豚作为海洋中微塑料的指标。
