Showing papers in "Marine Pollution Bulletin in 2017"

TL;DR: This review assesses the relevance of selected characteristics of plastics that composes the microplastics, to their role as a pollutant with potentially serious ecological impacts.

TL;DR: Recommendations to further reduce single-use plastic marine pollution include research to evaluate effectiveness of bans and levies to ensure policies are having positive impacts on marine environments, and education and outreach to reduce consumption of plastic bags and microbeads at source.

TL;DR: This study is the first to quantify microplastics of any size in river sediments in the UK and links their presence to terrestrial sources including sewage and road marking paints.

TL;DR: This review covers 83 studies that investigated the distribution of microplastics and the ecotoxicity of micro- and nanoplastics in marine and freshwater ecosystems and indicated that micro-sized plastics and plastic debris were distributed at various concentrations in aquatic ecosystems around the world.

TL;DR: The underlying message is that nutrient proportions and forms can alter biodiversity, even when nutrients are at concentrations in excess of those considered limiting.

TL;DR: An improved sediment extraction method, based on density separation was developed and an adapted enzymatic digestion protocol using proteinase K performed best, with a 97% recovery of spiked plastic particles and no observed degradation effects on the plastics in subsequent Raman analysis.

TL;DR: Results revealed that microplastics induce effects on antioxidant capacity, DNA damage, neurotoxicity and oxidative damage, and that S. plana is a significant target to assess the environmental risk of PS microplastic.

TL;DR: Investigation of microplastic abundance, distribution and composition in the Atlantic Ocean on a transect from the Bay of Biscay to Cape Town, South Africa found that fibres were predominant and polyesters were predominant.

TL;DR: This research is the first large spatial-scale analysis of microplastics on European beaches giving insights into the nature and extent of the microplastic challenge.

TL;DR: This study examined the sea surface concentrations of microplastics in the North Adriatic and characterized bacterial communities living on themicroplastics and identified the pathogenic fish bacteria Aeromonas salmonicida for the first time on microplastic.

TL;DR: A field survey to collect microplastics with sizes <5mm was conducted in the Southern Ocean in 2016 and total particle counts were computed using the surface concentration of microplastic, wind speed, and significant wave height during the observation period.

TL;DR: The ingestion of microplastics by five natural zooplankton groups in the northern South China Sea was studied for the first time and two types of sampling nets were compared.

TL;DR: The effect of particle's shape on its settling velocity is highlighted, indicating the need of further experiments with real marine microplastics of different shapes and the necessity of the development of reasonable parameterization of microplastic settling for proper modeling of their transport in the water column.

TL;DR: This is the first comprehensive study to assess the spatial and temporal variations of microplastic pollution in Hong Kong coastal regions.

TL;DR: This viewpoint advocates that DPSIR should be extended to DAPSI(W)R(M) (pronounced dap-see-worm) in which Drivers of basic human needs require Activities which lead to Pressures, and the unifying framework for integrated marine management is completed by encompassing ecosystem structure and functioning, ecosystem services and societal benefits.

TL;DR: A standard operating procedure for sampling and extracting microplastics from beach sand is provided, finding that sampling depth, sampling location, number of repeat extractions, and settling times are the critical parameters of variation.

TL;DR: Comparisons among intertidal fish with different feeding type show that omnivorous fish presented a higher amount of microplastic fibers than registered in herbivores and carnivores, and lower condition factors were found in Omnivorous specimens with higher microplastics content.

TL;DR: The findings highlight the need to focus on assemblage level studies to understand the real magnitude of the problem and emphasize the urgency of mitigation measures directed at microplastic pollution in estuarine ecosystems.

TL;DR: Near-shore seagrass meadows dominated by Thalassia testudinum were replaced by a community dominated by calcareous rhizophytic algae and drifting algae and/or epiphytes, resulting in 61.6-99.5% loss of below-ground biomass.

TL;DR: The first survey to investigate the occurrence and extent of plastic contamination in sediments collected in Terra Nova Bay found a decreasing concentration of plastic debris at increasing distances from the Mario Zucchelli Base was evidenced.

TL;DR: Modifications for NOAA Laboratory Methods for quantifying synthetic particles in water and sediments are proposed that will allow us to analyze microplastics in bottom sediments, including small fibers, includingsmall fibers.

TL;DR: Investigation of the presence and distribution of both types of anthropogenic microfibers along the length of the Hudson River found no relationship between fiber abundance, wastewater treatment plant location or population density.

TL;DR: The impacts on benthic assemblages observed up to 3days after the arrival of tailing plumes were not clearly associated with trace metal concentrations, but long-term effects need to be studied.

TL;DR: The results show that snapshot sampling may deliver biased results and indicate that future monitoring programs should consider spatial and temporal variation of plastic deposition, which may be best explained by environmental factors.

TL;DR: A review of the literature comparing microplastic separation and identification methodologies from seawater, sediment and marine organisms found visual examination and acid digestion were the most common separation methods for seawater samples and organisms, while density flotation was the primary method for sediment.

TL;DR: Most polymers resisted potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution, with the exceptions of cellulose acetate from cigarette filters, some biodegradable plastics and a single polyethylene sheet, confirming that usage of KOH solutions can be a useful approach in general quantitative studies of plastic ingestion by marine wildlife.

TL;DR: The spatial differences in mean number of MPs in fish observed in this study suggest that environmental availability of MPs could be of great importance to explain the differences found among sampling sites analysed.

TL;DR: A review of the state of the art in oil spill modeling, focused on the period from 2000 to present, provides guiding principles that govern the development of the current generation of spill models.

TL;DR: Light-colored (white or transparent) fragments were by far more abundant than all other microplastic colors and types and underline the need for action to reduce the flux of plastics to the marine environment.

TL;DR: A less extreme scenario of exposure than used previously, with microplastics present only in the hemolymph of prey (the mussel Perna perna) and absent in the gut cavity, suggests a reduced likelihood of trophic cascading of particles and, consequently, a reduced risk of direct impacts of microplastic impacts on higher troPHic levels.