School of Biological Sciences and Environment Institute, University of Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia.
School of Biological Sciences and Environment Institute, University of Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia.
Chemosphere. 2022 Nov;307(Pt 4):136065. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136065. Epub 2022 Aug 19.
Microplastics have been documented in a plethora of marine environments and organisms. These small plastics threaten ecosystem health, with implications for seafood species' health. Oysters are an important cultural and economic aquaculture species globally. Due to their filter feeding mechanisms, they can act as an indicator species and proxy for environmental contamination. This makes them an ideal organism for investigating microplastic pollution. Here, we first systematically reviewed the global literature investigating microplastic in oysters. Globally, 94.4% of all oysters had microplastics, with an average of 1.41 ± 0.33 per gram of soft tissue wet weight (gww). The review showed that wild-caught oysters contained more than double the amount of microplastic than aquaculture raised specimens, likely reflecting the clean and productive waters in which oyster aquaculture systems are commonly located. Second, we quantified microplastic presence and polymer type in commercially farmed oysters (Crassostrea gigas and Saccostrea glomerata) across a broad spatial scale, covering eight sites in southern Australia. Microplastics were present in 49.4% of all sampled oysters, with specimens from all locations containing microplastics. On average, whole oysters contained 0.83 ± 0.08 microplastics per individual or 0.09 ± 0.01 microplastics gww. Using Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, we identified that 62% of the verified microplastics were vexar plastic netting, a low-density polyethylene commonly used in aquaculture production. Understanding the abundance and source of microplastic in these key seafood species is essential to determine if oysters are vulnerable to these contaminants and pose a risk to the oyster aquaculture industry as an important food resource.
微塑料已在大量海洋环境和生物中被记录。这些小塑料威胁着生态系统健康，对海鲜物种的健康也有影响。牡蛎是全球重要的文化和经济水产养殖物种。由于其滤食机制，它们可以作为指示物种和环境污染物的替代物。这使得它们成为研究微塑料污染的理想生物。在这里，我们首先系统地回顾了全球研究牡蛎中微塑料的文献。全球范围内，94.4%的牡蛎都含有微塑料，平均每克软组织湿重（gww）含有 1.41±0.33 个微塑料。该综述表明，野生牡蛎中含有的微塑料量是养殖牡蛎的两倍多，这可能反映了牡蛎养殖系统通常所处的清洁和多产水域。其次，我们在澳大利亚南部的八个地点广泛的空间尺度上量化了商业养殖牡蛎（巨蛎和扁牡蛎）中微塑料的存在和聚合物类型。在所有采样的牡蛎中，有 49.4%含有微塑料，所有地点的样本都含有微塑料。平均而言，每个牡蛎含有 0.83±0.08 个微塑料，或 0.09±0.01 个微塑料 gww。使用傅里叶变换红外光谱，我们确定了 62%的已验证微塑料是 vexar 塑料网，这是一种常用于水产养殖生产的低密度聚乙烯。了解这些关键海鲜物种中微塑料的丰度和来源对于确定牡蛎是否容易受到这些污染物的影响以及牡蛎养殖产业作为重要食物资源是否存在风险至关重要。
