CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; Centre for Marine Socioecology, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Oct 15;843:156858. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156858. Epub 2022 Jun 27.
Plastic litter is a pollutant of aquatic environments worldwide, with some of the world's highest litter densities occurring in freshwater ecosystems. Little information about the risk that plastic litter poses to aquatic wildlife is available across the world's most polluted waterways. To help assess the risk to aquatic species where empirical data is lacking, our review presents i) a risk assessment methodology for predicting plastic litter impacts on aquatic wildlife in data poor environments, ii) a case study demonstrating this risk assessment methodology for wildlife across two heavily polluted river basins in Asia, the Mekong and Ganges River Basins; and iii) a broad review summarising common trends in litter interactions and risk to freshwater fish, aquatic birds, cetaceans and raptors. This risk analysis unites a systematic review approach with risk matrices following International Standards Organization's risk assessment criteria, evaluating the risk of plastic entanglement and ingestion and the potential for harm to the animal. In the Mekong and Ganges River Basins, we found that the risk of litter entanglement is higher than litter ingestion. Four species were forecast to be at high risk of entanglement: Ganges River dolphin, Gharial, Mekong giant catfish and Irrawaddy dolphin. The eastern imperial eagle and greater spotted eagle were noted to be at moderate risk of entanglement. Both the Ganges River dolphin and Irrawaddy dolphin were predicted to have a moderate risk of plastic ingestion. Interestingly, cranes, waterfowl and wading birds were deemed at low or negligible risk from plastic litter. This risk matrix methodology can be applied to other waterways and taxa to assess the risk posed by plastic. It can also be readily updated as more information becomes available. This review enables decision makers to bridge a data gap by providing a tool for conservation and management before comprehensive empirical data is available.
塑料垃圾是全球水生环境的污染物，世界上一些地方的淡水生态系统中存在最高的垃圾密度。关于塑料垃圾对水生野生动物构成的风险，全世界污染最严重的水道都缺乏相关信息。为了帮助评估在缺乏经验数据的情况下水生物种面临的风险，我们的综述提出了以下内容：i）一种在数据匮乏的环境下预测塑料垃圾对水生野生动物影响的风险评估方法；ii）一个案例研究，展示了该方法在亚洲两个污染最严重的流域（湄公河和恒河）的野生动物中的应用；iii）对淡水鱼类、水鸟、鲸目动物和猛禽的垃圾相互作用和风险的常见趋势进行了广泛综述。这项风险分析将系统综述方法与遵循国际标准化组织风险评估标准的风险矩阵相结合，评估塑料缠绕和摄入的风险以及对动物造成伤害的可能性。在湄公河和恒河流域，我们发现垃圾缠绕的风险高于垃圾摄入。有四种物种被预测为高缠绕风险：恒河豚、长吻鳄、湄公巨型鲶鱼和伊洛瓦底江海豚。东部秃鹰和大雕鹰被认为有中度缠绕风险。恒河豚和伊洛瓦底江海豚都被预测有中度塑料摄入风险。有趣的是，鹤类、水禽和涉禽被认为面临塑料垃圾的风险较低或可忽略不计。这种风险矩阵方法可应用于其他水道和类群，以评估塑料带来的风险。随着更多信息的出现，它也可以很容易地更新。这项综述使决策者能够在全面的经验数据可用之前，通过提供一种保护和管理工具来填补数据空白。
