College of Environment and Safety Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China.
College of Environment and Safety Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, China.
Waste Manag. 2023 Dec 1;172:326-334. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2023.10.029. Epub 2023 Nov 8.
The occurrence of microplastics (MPs) in aquatic ecosystems has become an increasingly serious threat to public health. Marine sediments are considered the final recipients of all microplastic pollution from inland rivers, however, whether and how the MPs differ in these two ecosystems remains poorly known due to the divergent MPs detection methods employed in previous studies. Here, we investigated the abundance, size, and types of MPs in sediment samples from the Yellow River and Yellow Sea using laser direct infrared (LDIR), and assessed their ecological risks. The abundance of MPs in the Yellow Sea is 2.9 times higher than that in the Yellow River, with an average abundance of 54813.2 ± 19355.9 and 18780.2 ± 9951.8 particles·kg (dry sediment), respectively. Notably, the predominant polymer types in both sediment environments were silicone, fluororubber, and polypropylene (PP). MPs with sizes < 100 μm accounted for > 90 % of the total MPs number. Risk assessment demonstrated all the sediment environments exhibited high ecological risks. The dominance of small MPs highlighted the importance of using a method with high resolution to delineate the truthful status of MP pollution.
微塑料（MPs）在水生生态系统中的出现已成为对公众健康的日益严重的威胁。海洋沉积物被认为是内陆河流带来的所有微塑料污染的最终受体，然而，由于先前研究中采用的 MPs 检测方法不同，这些两个生态系统中的 MPs 是否存在差异以及差异如何仍知之甚少。在这里，我们使用激光直接红外（LDIR）法研究了黄河和黄海沉积物样品中 MPs 的丰度、大小和类型，并评估了它们的生态风险。黄海的 MPs 丰度是黄河的 2.9 倍，平均丰度分别为 54813.2 ± 19355.9 和 18780.2 ± 9951.8 个·kg（干沉积物）。值得注意的是，两种沉积物环境中的主要聚合物类型均为硅酮、氟橡胶和聚丙烯（PP）。粒径 < 100 μm 的 MPs 占总 MPs 数量的> 90%。风险评估表明，所有沉积物环境均表现出高生态风险。小 MPs 的优势突出了使用高分辨率方法来描绘 MP 污染真实状况的重要性。
