Journal Article

Abundance and characterization of microplastics in amphipods from the Japanese coastal environment

Nagato, Edward G., Katte, Yasuharu, Saito, Junya

2023

Overview

Microplastics can be ingested by tiny detritivores such as amphipods, with potential consequences on the food chain. The present study characterizes the abundance, chemical composition, and size of microplastics in amphipods found in the Japan Sea coastal environment, which is a hotspot for microplastic accumulation. High amounts of microplastic ingestion and a large discrepancy by amphipod species, Talorchestia nipponensis , Ampithoe valida , and Trinorchestia trinitatis , were observed (between 0.2 and 76.3 particles/individual) which may be due to differences in habitat preference and background contamination. This result indicates that coastal amphipods in particular may ingest large amounts of microplastics. The average microplastic particle size in amphipods was 59 ± 8.6 µm, with 83% of particles smaller than 90 µm, and polyethylene was dominant. This study provides insights into microplastic abundance in coastal amphipods and the context for further studies on coastal amphipod microplastic ingestion. Graphical Abstract

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Abundance / Aluminum / Amphipoda / Animals / Aquatic Pollution / Chemical composition / Coastal environments / Coasts / Detritivores / Earth and Environmental Science / Ecotoxicology / Environment / Environmental Chemistry / Environmental Health / Environmental Monitoring / Environmental science / food chain / Food chains / Food contamination / Habitat preferences / Ingestion / Japan / Laboratories / Microplastics / Microplastics - analysis / particle size / Plastic debris / Plastic pollution / Plastics / polyethylene / Polyethylenes / Sand & gravel / Short Research and Discussion Article / species / Talorchestia / Waste Water Technology / Water Management / Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis / Water Pollution Control