CAS Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Collaborative Innovation Center of Water Security for Water Source Region of Mid-line of South-to-North Diversion Project of Henan Province, Nanyang Normal University, Nanyang 473061, China.
J Hazard Mater. 2021 Jun 5;411:125178. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125178. Epub 2021 Jan 19.
Although environmental research has recently begun to focus on the ubiquity of microplastics in terrestrial systems, there is still lack of comprehensive data which describe microplastics levels in soils and the factors influencing the distribution of this contaminant. Here, we show that microplastics contamination (3877 ± 2356 p kg) is omnipresent in numerous soil samples collected along the Yangtze River. Subsoils (4005 ± 2472 p kg) showed higher levels of microplastics than topsoils (3748 ± 2301 p kg), while polyamide (32%) was the most commonly found polymer in the samples. Small microplastics particles (< 200 µm) accounted for approximately 70% of the microplastics detected in subsoils. In terms of shape, microfragments were the most common type of microplastic particle, accounting for 34% of total microplastics, followed by microfibers (30%). Furthermore, microplastics contamination was found to be positively correlated with both the population of the study area and precipitation, yet negatively correlated with the elevation of the sampling site. Our study represents the first large-scale study of microplastic contamination in riparian soils along the Yangtze River, and provides important data regarding the ecotoxicology and ecosystem effects of microplastics in terrestrial environments.
尽管环境研究最近开始关注微塑料在陆地系统中的普遍存在，但仍缺乏全面的数据来描述土壤中的微塑料水平以及影响这种污染物分布的因素。在这里，我们表明，微塑料污染（3877±2356 个 p 千克）普遍存在于沿长江采集的众多土壤样本中。底土（4005±2472 个 p 千克）中的微塑料含量高于表土（3748±2301 个 p 千克），而聚酰胺（32%）是样本中最常见的聚合物。小的微塑料颗粒（<200µm）约占底土中检测到的微塑料的 70%。就形状而言，微碎片是最常见的微塑料颗粒类型，占总微塑料的 34%，其次是微纤维（30%）。此外，微塑料污染与研究区域的人口和降水量呈正相关，与采样点的海拔高度呈负相关。本研究代表了对长江沿岸滨岸土壤中微塑料污染的首次大规模研究，为微塑料在陆地环境中的生态毒理学和生态系统效应提供了重要数据。
