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The abundance of microplastics in cnidaria and ctenophora in the North Sea
journal contribution
posted on 2021-11-08, 04:32 authored by Ria Devereux, Mark GJ Hartl, Mike Bell, Angela CapperAngela CapperMicroplastic (MP) ingestion has been widely recorded in aquatic organisms, but few studies focus on cnidarians and ctenophores, which form a significant contribution to marine trophic interactions. Scyphozoans (Cyanea capillata, C. lamarckii and Aurelia aurita), hydrozoan (Cosmetira pilosella) and ctenophores (Beroe cucumis and
Pleurobrachia bachei) collected opportunistically from Orkney, Shetland and the North Sea were thermally disintegrated,
with a subsample of ingested plastics analysed using FTIR. A total of 1,986 MPs were counted (94% fibres), the majority (84.4%) in the four cnidarian species. Highest MP concentrations were recorded in B. cucumis (0.956 ml-1), whilst C. pilosella yielded the lowest (0.014 ml-1). The main polymers in digestate were PET and PP, with 27% discounted as non-plastics. In feeding trials, A. aurita ingested a greater quantity of PET
fibres (60-80%), compared to nylon (0%) and HDPE fibres (0%). This study demonstrates cnidarians and ctenophores, a largely overlooked group, are a potential route for MPs entry into food webs.
History
Volume
173Issue
Part AStart Page
1End Page
13Number of Pages
13eISSN
1879-3363ISSN
0025-326XPublisher
ElsevierPublisher DOI
Language
enPeer Reviewed
- Yes
Open Access
- No
Acceptance Date
2021-09-19External Author Affiliations
Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University Orkney, University of East LondonEra Eligible
- Yes