Characteristics and distribution of microplastics in the coastal mangrove sediments of China

Qian Zhou; Chen Tu; Chuancheng Fu; Yuan Li; Haibo Zhang; Kuanxu Xiong; Xinyue Zhao; Lianzhen Li; Joanna J Waniek; Yongming Luo

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134807

Characteristics and distribution of microplastics in the coastal mangrove sediments of China

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Feb 10:703:134807. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134807. Epub 2019 Oct 31.

Authors

Qian Zhou¹, Chen Tu², Chuancheng Fu³, Yuan Li², Haibo Zhang⁴, Kuanxu Xiong², Xinyue Zhao², Lianzhen Li², Joanna J Waniek⁵, Yongming Luo⁶

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 264003 Yantai, China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China; Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, 18119 Rostock, Germany.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 264003 Yantai, China.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 264003 Yantai, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 210008 Nanjing, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Soil Contamination Bioremediation of Zhejiang Province, School of Environmental & Resource Sciences, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, 311300 Hangzhou, China.
⁵ Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, 18119 Rostock, Germany.
⁶ CAS Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 264003 Yantai, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 210008 Nanjing, China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China. Electronic address: ymluo@yic.ac.cn.

PMID: 31744692
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134807

Abstract

Mangroves are a unique and important type of coastal wetlands in the tropical and subtropical zones worldwide. The abundance and spatial distribution of microplastics in the mangrove sediments however are still poorly understood. The present study aimed to illustrate the characteristics, abundance and spatial distribution of microplastics in different mangrove sediments along the south-eastern coastal zones of China. Microplastic samples (roughly 10-20 kg fresh sediments at each site) taken from 21 sampling sites showed various shapes, colors, composition, sizes, surface morphology, abundance and strong spatial heterogeneity. Five different shapes of microplastics with a variety of colors were detected in the mangrove sediments, among which foams (74.6%) and fibers (14.0%) were the dominant types. The polymer composition of the microplastics identified based on the FT-IR and μ-FTIR covered polystyrene (75.2%), polypropylene (11.7%), rayon (4.6%), polyester (3.4%), polyethylene (2.8%) and acrylic (2.4%). The observed microplastics with a size range of less than 2 mm made up 58.6% of the total microplastic particles. The microplastics had various surface morphologies, exhibiting complicated weathered surfaces. The abundance of microplastics showed a substantial variation among the sampling sites, ranging from 8.3 to 5738.3 items kg^-1 (dry sediment). Altogether, our study provides a better understanding of microplastic pollution status and prevention policy-making of mangrove habitats in China.

Keywords: Abundance; Mangrove sediments; Microplastics; Spatial distribution; Surface morphologies.