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McIlwraith HK, Lindeque PK, Miliou A, Tolhurst TJ, Cole M. Microplastic shape influences fate in vegetated wetlands. Environ Pollut 2024; 345:123492. [PMID: 38311156 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.123492] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 02/10/2024]
Abstract
Coastal areas are prone to plastic accumulation due to their proximity to land based sources. Coastal vegetated habitats (e.g., seagrasses, saltmarshes, mangroves) provide a myriad of ecosystem functions, such as erosion protection, habitat refuge, and carbon storage. The biological and physical factors that underlie these functions may provide an additional benefit: trapping of marine microplastics. While microplastics occurrence in coastal vegetated sediments is well documented, there is conflicting evidence on whether the presence of vegetation enhances microplastics trapping relative to bare sites and the factors that influence microplastic trapping remain understudied. We investigated how vegetation structure and microplastic type influences trapping in a simulated coastal wetland. Through a flume experiment, we measured the efficiency of microplastic trapping in the presence of branched and grassy vegetation and tested an array of microplastics that differ in shape, size, and polymer. We observed that the presence of vegetation did not affect the number of microplastics trapped but did affect location of deposition. Microplastic shape, rather than polymer, was the dominant factor in determining whether microplastics were retained in the sediment or adhered to the vegetation canopy. Across the canopy, microfibre concentrations decreased from the leading edge to the interior which suggests that even on a small-scale, vegetation has a filtering effect. The outcome of this study enriches our understanding of coastal vegetation as a microplastics sink and that differences among microplastics informs where they are most likely to accumulate within a biogenic canopy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hayley K McIlwraith
- Marine Ecology & Biodiversity, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, Plymouth, PL1 3DH, UK; University of East Anglia, School of Environmental Sciences, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK
| | - Penelope K Lindeque
- Marine Ecology & Biodiversity, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, Plymouth, PL1 3DH, UK
| | - Anastasia Miliou
- Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation, Pythagorio, Samos, 83103, Greece
| | - Trevor J Tolhurst
- University of East Anglia, School of Environmental Sciences, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK
| | - Matthew Cole
- Marine Ecology & Biodiversity, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, Plymouth, PL1 3DH, UK.
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McIlwraith HK, Dias M, Orihel DM, Rennie MD, Harrison AL, Hoffman MJ, Provencher JF, Rochman CM. A Multicompartment Assessment of Microplastic Contamination in Semi-remote Boreal Lakes. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024. [PMID: 38415806 DOI: 10.1002/etc.5832] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2023] [Revised: 01/22/2024] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
Microplastic contamination is ubiquitous across the globe, even in remote locations. Still, the sources and pathways of microplastics to such locations are largely unknown. To investigate microplastic contamination in a semi-remote location, we measured microplastic concentrations in nine oligotrophic lakes within and around the International Institute for Sustainable Development-Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario, Canada. Our first objective was to establish ambient concentrations of microplastics in bottom sediments, surface water, and atmospheric deposition in semi-remote boreal lakes. Across all lakes, mean shallow and deep sediment microplastic concentrations, near-surface water microplastic concentrations from in situ filtering, and dry atmospheric microplastic deposition rates were 551 ± 354 particles kg-1 , 177 ± 103 particles kg-1 , 0.2 ± 0.3 particles L-1 , and 0.4 ± 0.2 particles m-2 day-1 , respectively. Our second objective was to investigate whether microplastic contamination of these lakes is driven by point sources including local runoff and direct anthropogenic inputs or nonpoint sources such as atmospheric deposition. Lakes were selected based on three levels of anthropogenic activity-low, medium, and high-though activity levels were minimal across all study lakes compared with highly populated areas. Whereas a positive correlation would indicate that point sources were a likely pathway, we observed no relationship between the level of anthropogenic activity and microplastic contamination of surface water. Moreover, the composition of microplastics in surface water and atmospheric deposition were similar, comprising mostly polyester and acrylic fibers. Together, these results suggest that atmospheric deposition may be the main pathway of microplastics to these remote boreal lakes. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024;00:1-13. © 2024 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hayley K McIlwraith
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, St. George Campus, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, Plymouth, United Kingdom
| | - Minoli Dias
- School of Environmental Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
| | - Diane M Orihel
- School of Environmental Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
| | - Michael D Rennie
- Department of Biology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
- International Institute for Sustainable Development-Experimental Lakes Area, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
| | - Anna L Harrison
- School of Environmental Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
- Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Matthew J Hoffman
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Jennifer F Provencher
- Ecotoxicology and Wildlife Health Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Chelsea M Rochman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, St. George Campus, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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McIlwraith HK, Kim J, Helm P, Bhavsar SP, Metzger JS, Rochman CM. Evidence of Microplastic Translocation in Wild-Caught Fish and Implications for Microplastic Accumulation Dynamics in Food Webs. Environ Sci Technol 2021; 55:12372-12382. [PMID: 34499472 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c02922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 24.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The presence of microplastics within the gut of animals is well documented. Whether microplastics bioaccumulate in organisms and biomagnify in food webs remains unclear and relies on the ability of microplastics to translocate to other tissues. Here, we demonstrate the widespread presence of microplastics and other anthropogenic microparticles in the gastrointestinal tract, fillet, and livers of seven species of sportfish from Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada. Larger fish had a higher microplastic load compared to smaller fish, but the opposite trend was observed with translocated microplastics standardized by fish mass (i.e., smaller fish contained more translocated particles per gram wet weight than larger fish). Moreover, we observed no evidence of biomagnification as there was no significant relationship between the trophic level and total or translocated microplastics per individual. Overall, this suggests that microplastics are translocating, but that excretion of translocated particles or growth dilution may be occurring rather than bioaccumulation and biomagnification. Moreover, the assemblages of shapes and material types varied among tissues, suggesting that particle characteristics may predict biological fate. Our findings highlight the need for further work to understand the mechanisms of microplastic translocation and excretion and the implications for the dynamics of microplastics accumulation in food webs and human exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hayley K McIlwraith
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B2, Canada
| | - Joel Kim
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B2, Canada
| | - Paul Helm
- Environmental Monitoring & Reporting Branch, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Toronto, Ontario M9P 3V6, Canada
- School of the Environment, University of Toronto, 33 Willcocks St., Suite 1016V, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E8, Canada
| | - Satyendra P Bhavsar
- Environmental Monitoring & Reporting Branch, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Toronto, Ontario M9P 3V6, Canada
- School of the Environment, University of Toronto, 33 Willcocks St., Suite 1016V, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E8, Canada
| | - Jeremy S Metzger
- Environmental Monitoring & Reporting Branch, Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, Toronto, Ontario M9P 3V6, Canada
| | - Chelsea M Rochman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B2, Canada
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McIlwraith HK, Lin J, Erdle LM, Mallos N, Diamond ML, Rochman CM. Capturing microfibers - marketed technologies reduce microfiber emissions from washing machines. Mar Pollut Bull 2019; 139:40-45. [PMID: 30686443 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.12.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2018] [Revised: 12/09/2018] [Accepted: 12/10/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Microfibers are a common type of microplastic. One known source of microfibers to the environment is domestic laundering, which can release thousands of fibers into washing machine effluent with every wash. Here, we adapted existing methods to measure the length, count and weight of microfibers in laundry effluent. We used this method to test the efficacy of two technologies marketed to reduce microfiber emissions: the Cora Ball and Lint LUV-R filter. Both technologies significantly reduced the numbers of microfibers from fleece blankets in washing effluent. The Lint LUV-R captured an average of 87% of microfibers in the wash by count, compared to the Cora Ball which captured 26% by count. The Lint LUV-R also significantly reduced the total weight and average length of fibers in effluent. While further research is needed to understand other sources of microfiber emissions, these available technologies could be adopted to reduce emissions from laundering textiles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hayley K McIlwraith
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jack Lin
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Lisa M Erdle
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Nicholas Mallos
- Ocean Conservancy, 111 SW Columbia St, Portland, OR 97201, USA
| | - Miriam L Diamond
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Chelsea M Rochman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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