Investigating microplastic trophic transfer in marine top predators.
By S. Nelms, T. Galloway, Bj Godley, D. Jarvis, P. Lindeque. Environmental Pollution, 2018
863 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Microplastics are highly bioavailable to marine organisms, either through direct ingestion, or indirectly by trophic transfer from contaminated prey. The latter has been observed for low-trophic level organisms in laboratory conditions, yet empirical evidence in high trophic-level taxa is lacking. In natura studies face difficulties when dealing with contamination and differentiating between directly and indirectly ingested microplastics. The ethical constraints of subjecting large organisms, such as marine mammals, to laboratory investigations hinder the resolution of these limitations. Here, these issues were resolved by analysing sub-samples of scat from captive grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) and whole digestive tracts of the wild-caught Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus) they are fed upon. An enzymatic digestion protocol was employed to remove excess organic material and facilitate visual detection of synthetic particles without damaging them. Polymer type was confirmed using Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Extensive contamination control measures were implemented throughout. Approximately half of scat subsamples (48%; n = 15) and a third of fish (32%; n = 10) contained 1-4 microplastics. Particles were mainly black, clear, red and blue in colour. Mean lengths were 1.5 mm and 2 mm in scats and fish respectively. Ethylene propylene was the most frequently detected polymer type in both. Our findings suggest trophic transfer represents an indirect, yet potentially major, pathway of microplastic ingestion for any species whose feeding ecology involves the consumption of whole prey, including humans.
Subfields: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Ocean Engineering, Pollution
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0afe0cd096a2f17549431390cfb0b37b7c5a9ab5
How researchers see this paper
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In Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
- P. Lindeque
- P. Ryan
- Richard C. Thompson
- Bj Godley
- S. Nelms
- Zara L. R. Botterell
- A. Lusher
- L. Hoogenboom
In Ocean Engineering
In Pollution
- P. Lindeque
- P. Ryan
- Richard C. Thompson
- Bj Godley
- S. Nelms
- Zara L. R. Botterell
- Nicola J. Beaumont
- Michael Steinke
Citations in the corpus
- Happy Feet in a Hostile World? The Future of Penguins Depends on Proactive Management of Current and Expected Threats (2019, background): “In addition, they are at risk of indirect contamination via microplastic transfer from their prey (Nelms et al., 2018).”
- Marine mammal conservation: over the horizon (2021, background): “Indirect ingestion can occur as a result of trophic transfer where prey containing microplastics (plastic <5 mm in size) are consumed (Nelms et al. 2018, 2019a,b).”
- Bioavailability and effects of microplastics on marine zooplankton: A review. (2019, background): “Several studies have investigated the transfer of microplastics between trophic levels via ingestion (Farrell and Nelson, 2013; Set€ al€ a et al., 2014; Watts et al., 2014; Nelms et al., 2018).”
- Microplastic prevalence in two fish species in two U.S. reservoirs (2020, background): “Trophic level differences have been noted in marine (e.g., Nelms et al. 2018) and estuarine (e.g., Ferreira et al. 2019) systems, with varying amounts of microplastics in different fish tissues (Su et al. 2019).”