Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Volume 252, Issue -, Pages 1257-1266Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.05.149
Keywords
Microplastics; Tridacna maxima; Plastic pollution; Giant clam; Ingestion
Categories
Funding
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study assesses for the first time the ingestion of microplastics by giant clams and evaluates their importance as a sink for this pollutant. A total of 24 individuals of two size classes were collected from the Red Sea and then exposed for 12 days to 4 concentrations of polyethylene microbeads ranging from 53 to 500 mu m. Experiments revealed that clams actively take up microplastic from the water column and the average of beads retained inside the animal was similar to 7.55 +/- 1.89 beads individual (-1) day (-1) (5.76 +/- 1.16 MPs/g dw). However, the digestive tract itself cannot be considered the only sink of microbeads in Tridacnids. Indeed, shells play a key role as well. The abundance of microplastic adhering to the shells, which was estimated directly, was positively correlated to the concentration of beads found in the surrounding seawater. Therefore, clams' shells contribute to the removal of 66.03 +/- 2.50% of the microplastic present in the water column. Furthermore, stress responses to the exposure to polyethylene were investigated. Gross Primary Production:Respiration (GPP:R) ratio decreased throughout of the experiment, but no significant difference was found between treatments and controls. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available