Ingestion of microplastics by natural zooplankton groups in the northern South China Sea

The ingestion of microplastics by five natural zooplankton groups in the northern South China Sea was studied for the first time and two types of sampling nets (505 pm and 160 pm in mesh size) were compared. The microplastics were detected in zooplankton sampled from 16 stations, with the fibrous microplastics accounting for the largest proportion (70%). The main component of the found microplastics was polyester. The average length of the microplastics was 125 pm and 167 pm for Nets I and II, respectively. The encounter rates of microplastics/zooplanlcton increased with trophic levels. The average encounter rate of microplastics/zooplankton was 5%, 15%, 34%, 49%, and 120% for Net I, and 8%, 21%, 47%, 60%, and 143% for Net It for copepods, chaetognaths, jellyfish, shrimp, and fish larvae, respectively. The average abundance of microplastics that were ingested by zooplankton was 4.1 pieces/m(3) for Net I and 131.5 pieces/m(3) for Net II. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.