Presence, distribution and characterization of microplastics in
commercial organisms from Adriatic Sea
Avio Carlo Giacomo, Gorbi Stefania, Berlino Manuel, Regoli Francesco
[email protected] t
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente (DiSVA), Università̀ Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
Introduction
Materials and methods
The presence of microplastics in the marine environment has
raised scientific interes t particularly during the last decade.
Several organisms can ingest microplastics with potentially
adverse effects on the diges tive tract, respiratory sys tem and
locomotory appendages [1]. Howev er, a clear evidenc e of tissue
accumulati on and trans fer of such microparticles in wild
organisms is still lacking, partially hampered by technical
difficulties i n isolation and c haracterization protocols from
biological samples [2].
Fish and mantis shrimp were c ollected from two sites l ocated along the Marche c oast
about 2 nautical miles from the coast (Fig. 1).
Organisms from the two sites were sampled in the same day using gill nets.
Gastrointestinal tracts of fish and whole soft tiss ue of i nvertebrates, wer e diss ected and
stored at -20°C until the analysis.
A recently validated ex traction protocol [3] was applied to ex tract microplastics from
organisms tiss ues. Extrac ted particles were characterized in term of size, shape and
polymer typology (Fig. 2).
Investigated area and extraction protocol
Fig. 2 :
Aims
Water column
Ex tra c tion protoc ol
1. Evaluate the presence, distribution and c haracterization of
microplastics in s everal commercial species, including both
vertebrates and inv ertebrates fr om the Central of the Adriatic
sea.
2. Evaluate different susceptibility to microplas tics ingestion in
different marine species.
Sq u i l l a ma n ti s
Sediments
Fig. 1 :
Sa m pling Are a
Results
Site
Living habitat
Species
N .of analyz ed organis ms
S.pilchardus
19
Pelagic
Ancona
Bentho-pelagic
Microplastics in gastrointestinal tract
OVERALL
W
S. pilchardus
S.s combrus
14
M. merluccius
13
M. barbatus
16
M. merluccius
S. mantis
6
M. barbatus
C
O
L
S.pilchardus
19
S. mantis
U
M
S.s combrus
7
M. merluccius
18
M. barbatus
19
100
S. mantis
6
75
T
E
S. scombrus
R
Benthonic
Pelagic
Bentho-pelagic
3%
1-5-mm
0,5-1 mm
0,1-0,5 mm
<0,1 mm
26%
36%
0,5
1
1,5
2
35%
Size frequency (%)
< 0,1 mm
0,1 - 0,5 mm
0,5 - 1 mm
1 - 5 mm
Benthonic
FT-IR SPECTRA
Pelagic species exhibits
higher level of ingested
items compared to benthic
organisms.
N
0
Civitanova
Size frequency (%)
Items/ind.
A
Benthic specimens ingest
microplastics with smaller
grain size.
50
Shape frequency (%)
11%
25
Fragment
Pellet
Line
Film
7%
2%
0
S. pilchardus S. scombrus M. merluccius M. barbatus
S. mantis
Shape frequency (%)
100
Film
Line
Pellet
Fragment
75
50
No particular differences
occur in term of particles
shape between analysed
species.
25
80%
Typology frequency (%)
0
S. pilchardus
S. scombrus M. merluccius M. barbatus
S. mantis
9%
Typology frequency (%)
100
PA
PVA
BIOPLASTIC
PVC
PP
PS
PE
75
50
25
1%
2%
2%
3%
No particular differences
occur in term of polymer
typology between species,
except for Squilla mantis.
52%
31%
PE
PS
PP
PVC
BIO
PVA
PA
0
S. pilchardus
S. scombrus M. merluccius M. barbatus
S. mantis
Discussion and conclusions
1.
2.
3.
Microplastics items were mostly represented by fragments and film, while PE, PS and PA were the dominant polymers.
45% of analysed organisms were positive to microplastics ingestion.
Invertebrates ty pically exhibited a lower frequency of microplastics in s oft tissue in res pec t to the s tomach of fish, but with a higher potenti al of particles
transfer to human consumers.
In conclusion this study provided new insights on the presence, distribution and typology of microplastics in commercial organisms,
representing an important baseline assessment on the level of this kind of contamination in Adriatic biota.
REFERENCES
[1] Wright et al., 2013. Enviro nmenta l
Pollution 178, 483-92.
[2] Cole et al., 201 3. Enviro nmenta l
Science & Technology, 47, 6646-55.
[3] Avio et al., 2015. Mar ine Env iro nmenta l
Research, 111, 18-26.