Plastic debris in freshwater systems worldwide

Plastic debris is widespread in freshwater ecosystems, but a rigorous assessment of its global distribution has been hindered by a lack of comprehensive and comparable data. We performed the first standardized global survey of lakes to assess the quantity and type of plastics (>250μm). We included 38 lakes located in 23 different countries distributed across five continents, spanning different environmental gradients and varying levels of anthropogenic stress. All samples were collected by horizontal trawling of a plankton net and subsequently treated with hydrogen peroxide. We identified 9425 plastic particles, which were classified based on shape, color, and size. Polymer identification was carried out using Raman micro-spectroscopy. Our results showed that the concentration of plastics spanned four orders of magnitude (10-3-101 particles/m3). Fibers (49%) and fragments (41%) were the most frequently detected particles, suggesting a secondary origin of plastic contamination. The most commonly identified polymers were polyester (30%), polypropylene (20%), and polyethylene (16%), which are widely used in short life-cycle products and account for the majority of global plastic production. Further, we found that urban-related attributes of lakes/watersheds influenced the occurrence and type of plastics in lentic systems and larger and deeper lakes with higher retention times are accumulating plastic debris at higher concentrations.

Keywords

Plastic debris Research Subject Categories::TECHNOLOGY

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10198/26928

Citation

Nava, Veronica; Aherne, Julian; Alfonso, María B.; Geraldes, Ana Maria; Attermeyer, Katrin; Bao, Roberto; Bartrons, Mireia; Berger, Stella; Biernaczyk, Marcin; Bissen, Raphael; Brookes, Justin; Brown, David; Candian, Giulia; Cañedo-Argüelles, Miguel; Canle, Moisés; Capelli, Camilla; Cereijo, Jose Luís; Carballeira, Rafael; Chawchai, Sakonvan; Chen, Guangjie; Christensen, Søren T.; Christoffersen, Kirsten Seestern; Eyto, Elvira de; Delgado, Jorge; Doubek, Jonathan; Dusaucy, Julia; Erina, Oxana; Ersoy, Zeynep; Feuchtmayr, Heidrun; Lepori, Fabio; Frezzotti, Maria Luce; Galafassi, Silvia; Gateuille, David; Gonçalves, Vítor; Grossart, Hans-Peter; Hamilton, David; Kangur, Külli; Kankılıç, Gökben Başaran; Kessler, Rebecca; Kiel, Christine; Krynak, Edward M.; Leiva-Presa, Àngels; Matias, Miguel; Matsuzaki, Shin-Ichiro; McElarney, Yvonne; Mitchell, Mark; Messyasz, Beata; Mlambo, Musa; Motitsoe, Samuel N.; Owens, Caroline; Özkundakci, Deniz; Pinnow, Solvig; Pociecha, Agnieszka; Raposeiro, Pedro M.; Rõõm, Eva-Ingrid; Rotta, Federica; Salmaso, Nico; Scordo, Facundo; Sibomana, Claver; Siewert, Daniel; Stepanowska, Katarzyna; Sudeep, Chandra; Tavşanoğlu, Ülkü Nihan; Tereshina, Maria; Thompson, James; Tolotti, Monica; Valois, Amanda; Verburg, Piet; Wesolek, Brian; Weyhenmeyer, Gesa; Wu, Naicheng; Zawisza, Edyta; Zink, Lauren; Leoni, Barbara (2022). Plastic debris in freshwater systems worldwide. In XXVI Congresso dell’Associazione Italiana di Oceanologia e Limnologia. San Michele all‘Adige