Microplastics in the Belgian part of the North Sea: spatial variability and ingestion by benthic biota
Ryckebusch, Y. (2018). Microplastics in the Belgian part of the North Sea: spatial variability and ingestion by benthic biota. MSc Thesis. Ghent University. Faculty of Sciences: Gent. v, 30 pp.
Plastics are omnipresent in our daily life. The global production in 2016 was estimated at 322 million ton per year. An unfortunate consequence of this mass production is plastic waste. It is estimated that up to 10% of the global plastic production enters the oceans. Most plastic pieces present in the marine environment are micro- and nanoplastics. These microscopic plastic particles can result from fragmentation of larger plastic items at sea. Other sources include small manufactured items added to cosmetics, textile fibers or spheres used in antifouling of boats. Microplastics are known to pose major threats to the marine ecosystems worldwide because of their widespread occurence. Ingestion and accumulation of these plastic particles by marine biota have been demonstrated in a wide array of species and some studies even found adversely effects of this ingestion. However, most of the studies reporting ingestion and accumulation of these plastic particles, were performed in the laboratory with highly unrealistic concentrations of added microplastics. Therefore, there is an urgent need for studies investigating ingestion and accumulation of microplastics in field-collected organisms.
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