Hunter Aidan, Thorpe Sally E, McCarthy Arlie H, Manno Clara
British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK.
Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) at the University of Oldenburg, Ammerländer Heerstraße 213, 26129, Oldenburg, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2024 Dec 30;14(1):31599. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-79816-y.
Marine microplastic is pervasive, polluting the remotest ecosystems including the Southern Ocean. Since this region is already undergoing climatic changes, the additional stress of microplastic pollution on the ecosystem should not be considered in isolation. We identify potential hotspot areas of ecological impact from a spatial overlap analysis of multiple data sets to understand where marine biota are likely to interact with local microplastic emissions (from ship traffic and human populations associated with scientific research and tourism). Then we account for cumulative effects by identifying which areas with potential elevated microplastic-biota interaction are already subject to climate change related stresses (ocean warming and acidification). Our analysis indicates that biologically productive coastal areas in proximity to populated facilities are where microplastics pose most risk to the ecosystem, and that the northern Antarctic Peninsula is likely to be the main risk hotspot. This study is the first to map the threat of microplastics to the Southern Ocean ecosystem in a multi-stressor context, locating where microplastic monitoring programmes and mitigation measures may be considered a matter of urgency.
海洋微塑料无处不在，污染着包括南大洋在内最偏远的生态系统。由于该地区已经在经历气候变化，微塑料污染对生态系统造成的额外压力不应被孤立看待。我们通过对多个数据集进行空间重叠分析，确定了潜在的生态影响热点区域，以了解海洋生物群可能在何处与当地微塑料排放源（来自船舶交通以及与科研和旅游相关的人群）相互作用。然后，我们通过确定哪些潜在微塑料与生物群相互作用增强的区域已经受到与气候变化相关的压力（海洋变暖和酸化），来考量累积效应。我们的分析表明，靠近有人居住设施的生物生产力较高的沿海地区是微塑料对生态系统构成最大风险的地方，而南极半岛北部可能是主要的风险热点。这项研究首次在多压力因素背景下绘制了微塑料对南大洋生态系统的威胁图，确定了在哪些地方微塑料监测计划和缓解措施可能被视为当务之急。
