Museu de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Av. da Arquitetura, S/N, Cidade, Universitária, Recife, PE, Brazil.
Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, R. Dom Manuel de Medeiros, 97 - Dois Irmãos, Recife, PE, Brazil.
Environ Pollut. 2023 Apr 1;322:121072. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121072. Epub 2023 Jan 28.
This work describes the spatio-temporal distribution of suspected plastic and microplastic (MP) particles in estuarine plumes and analyzes the microplastic/zooplankton ratio. Subsurface hauls with a conical-cylindrical net were deployed in the coastal area of Tamandare (Pernambuco, Brazil), covering the plume of two rivers and a bay adjacent to coral reefs. A total of 2079 suspected plastic particles were detected, mostly fibers and fragments (>60%). Organic matter digestion was made using a 30% hydrogen peroxide solution, of which approximately 50% of suspected particles were validated as MPs. The average MP abundance was significantly higher during the high rainfall season (53.8 ± 89.6 and 18.8 ± 32.3 particles/m³, respectively), with higher values registered in the plume area (108.9 ± 158.5 and 44.6 ± 55.5 particles/m³). Polymer identification using FT-IR confirmed that suspected particles were mainly polypropylene, polyamide, and polyurethane. These results confirm the hypothesis of a temporal transport variation of MPs from the river to the coastal environments, particularly since the plume influences debris input. Eleven animal phyla were identified, and the subclass Copepoda was predominant (90%), particularly the nauplius stage (70%). Over 70% of verified MPs range between 20 and 2000 μm, equivalent to the most common size of zooplanktonic organisms. Results support that coastal areas near estuarine plumes are exposed to microplastic contamination, affecting species dependent on zooplankton in marine coastal food webs.
本研究描述了河口羽流中疑似塑料和微塑料（MP）颗粒的时空分布，并分析了微塑料/浮游动物的比例。在巴西伯南布哥州坦马代尔（Tamandare）的沿海地区，使用锥形圆柱形网进行了次表层拖网作业，覆盖了两条河流的羽流和毗邻珊瑚礁的海湾。共检测到 2079 个疑似塑料颗粒，主要为纤维和碎片（>60%）。使用 30%过氧化氢溶液进行有机物消化，其中约 50%的疑似颗粒被验证为 MPs。高降雨季节的 MPs 丰度明显更高（分别为 53.8±89.6 和 18.8±32.3 个/立方米），羽流区的 MPs 丰度更高（分别为 108.9±158.5 和 44.6±55.5 个/立方米）。使用傅里叶变换红外光谱（FT-IR）对聚合物进行鉴定，证实疑似颗粒主要为聚丙烯、聚酰胺和聚氨酯。这些结果证实了 MPs 从河流到沿海环境的时间传输变化的假设，特别是因为羽流会影响碎屑的输入。共鉴定出 11 个动物门，亚纲桡足类（Copepoda）占主导地位（90%），特别是无节幼体阶段（70%）。超过 70%的已验证 MPs 的尺寸在 20 至 2000μm 之间，与浮游动物生物的最常见尺寸相当。研究结果表明，靠近河口羽流的沿海地区受到微塑料污染的影响，影响了海洋沿海食物网中依赖浮游动物的物种。
