Abandoned Covid-19 personal protective equipment along the Bushehr shores, the Persian Gulf: An emerging source of secondary microplastics in coastlines.

Microplastic fibers - Underestimated threat to aquatic organisms?

Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous contaminants of the marine environment, and the deep seafloor is their ultimate sink compartment. Manipulative and field experiments provided evidence of the ingestion of MPs by deep-sea fauna, but knowledge of MPs' fate once ingested still remains scant. We provide evidence of MP partial retention and fragmentation mediated by digestion activity of a Norwegian langoustine, a good bioindicator for MP contamination of the deep sea. We report here that MPs in the intestines were more abundant and significantly smaller (up to 1 order of magnitude in surface) than those in the stomachs. Our results show that the stomach can act as a size-bottleneck for ingested MPs, enhancing the retention of larger particles within the stomach and promoting fragmentation into smaller plastic debris, which is then released in the intestine. Our results provide evidence that the langoustine is responsible for the fragmentation of MPs already accumulated in sediments through its scavenging activity and digestion. These findings highlight the existence of a new peculiar kind of "secondary" MPs, introduced in the environment by biological activities, which could represent a significant pathway of plastic degradation in a secluded and stable environment such as the deep sea.

Benthic Crustacean Digestion Can Modulate the Environmental Fate of Microplastics in the Deep Sea.

Human exposure to microplastics contained in food has become a significant concern owing to the increasing accumulation of microplastics in the environment. In this paper, we summarize the presence of microplastics in food and the analytical methods used for isolation and identification of microplastics. Although a large number of studies on seafood such as fish and shellfish exist, estimating the overall human exposure to microplastics via food consumption is difficult owing to the lack of studies on other food items. Analytical methods still need to be optimized for appropriate recovery of microplastics in various food matrices, rendering a quantitative comparison of different studies challenging. In addition, microplastics could be added or removed from ingredients during processing or cooking. Thus, research on processed food is crucial to estimate the contribution of food to overall human microplastic consumption and to mitigate this exposure in the future.

Microplastics in Food: A Review on Analytical Methods and Challenges

Reusable masks for COVID-19: A missing piece of the microplastic problem during the global health crisis.

Distribution and characterization of microplastic particles and textile microfibers in Adriatic food webs: General insights for biomonitoring strategies.

Human footprints at hadal depths: Interlayer and intralayer comparison of sediment cores from the Kuril Kamchatka trench.

The short sediment core EMB201/7-4 retrieved from the East Gotland Basin, central Baltic Sea, is explored here as a candidate to host the stratigraphical basis for the Anthropocene series and its equivalent Anthropocene epoch, still to be formalized in the Geological Time Scale. The core has been accurately dated back to 1840 CE using a well-established event stratigraphy approach. A pronounced and significant change occurs at 26.5 cm (dated 1956 ± 4 CE) for a range of geochemical markers including 239+240Pu, 241Am, fly-ash particles, DDT (organochlorine insecticide), total organic carbon, and bulk organic carbon stable isotopes. This stratigraphic level, which corresponds to a change in both lithology and sediment colour related to early anthropogenic-triggered eutrophication of the central Baltic Sea, is proposed as a Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series.

/pdf/the-east-gotland-basin-baltic-sea-as-a-candidate-global-txuo87e3.pdf

Serena Abel

Papers

Distribution and characterization of microplastic particles and textile microfibers in Adriatic food webs: General insights for biomonitoring strategies.

Human footprints at hadal depths: Interlayer and intralayer comparison of sediment cores from the Kuril Kamchatka trench.

The East Gotland Basin (Baltic Sea) as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series

Human Footprints at Hadal Depths: Interlayer and Intralayer Comparison of Sediment Cores from the Kuril Kamchatka Trench

Journey with No Return: Plastic Pollution in the Hadal of Deep-Sea Trenches