Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Volume 269, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.116142
Keywords
Marine mammals; Microplastics; Best practices; Plastic pollution; Standardisation
Categories
Funding
- EPSRC [EP/S025529/1] Funding Source: UKRI
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Microplastics receive increasing attention due to concerns about their impact on the environment and human health. Marine mammals, as indicators of marine ecosystem health, may be vulnerable to microplastic exposure. Studies have found microplastics in marine mammal tissues and feces, but methodological and reporting deficiencies make comparisons and extrapolations difficult.
Microplastics receive significant societal and scientific attention due to increasing concerns about their impact on the environment and human health. Marine mammals are considered indicators for marine ecosystem health and many species are of conservation concern due to a multitude of anthropogenic stressors. Marine mammals may be vulnerable to microplastic exposure from the environment, via direct ingestion from sea water, and indirect uptake from their prey. Here we present the first systematic review of literature on microplastics and marine mammals, composing of 30 studies in total. The majority of studies examined the gastrointestinal tracts of beached, bycaught or hunted cetaceans and pinnipeds, and found that microplastics were present in all but one study, and the abundance varied between 0 and 88 particles per animal. Additionally, microplastics in pinniped scats (faeces) were detected in eight out of ten studies, with incidences ranging from 0% of animals to 100%. Our review highlights considerable methodological and reporting deficiencies and differences among papers, making comparisons and extrapolation across studies difficult. We suggest best practices to avoid these issues in future studies. In addition to empirical studies that quantified microplastics in animals and scat, ten studies out of 30 (all focussing on cetaceans) tried to estimate the risk of exposure using two main approaches; i) overlaying microplastic in the environment (water or prey) with cetacean habitat or ii) proposing biological or chemical biomarkers of exposure. We discuss advice and best practices on research into the exposure and impact of microplastics in marine mammals. This work on marine ecosystem health indicator species will provide valuable and comparable information in the future. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Y
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