Microplastic pollution characteristic in surface water and freshwater fish of Gehu Lake, China.

Xia Xu,Qiuya Zhang,Liping Wang,Ling Zhang,Shanqing Jiang,Yingang Xue,Yu Gao,Mingguo Peng

doi:10.1007/s11356-021-15338-8

Abstract

Much more attention has been poured into microplastic pollution in freshwater systems recently. In the present study, the pollution of microplastics (MPs) in surface water and freshwater fish (crucian carp, etc.) were investigated from Gehu Lake, which is the second largest lake in southern Jiangsu after Taihu Lake. The result manifested that the average abundance of MPs was respectively 6.33±2.67 n/L for surface water and 10.7 items per individual for freshwater fish. The distribution of MPs in Gehu Lake varied from place to place, with the highest abundance of MPs was observed in the two estuaries of the eastern part of the lake. It was speculated that topographical factors and human factors were the main factors affecting the abundance and distribution of MPs. Transparent fibers were the main type of MPs in water samples, accounting for 69.70% of all detected particles. Meanwhile, most of the MPs ingested by freshwater fish were fibers, and the main colors were transparent and blue. In addition, the dominant size of the MPs was between 0.1 to 0.5 mm in water and fish samples. Moreover, PES, man-made fiber, and PP were the dominant polymer types in the surface water and fish samples. The results of this investigation can provide basic data for the research and management of MPs in freshwater systems.

Highlights

Microplastic pollution is a global environmental threat (Hu et al 2020)
This will indirectly strengthen the view that the abundance of plastic particles is affected by economic activity(Zhao et al 2015). Those indicate that the high plastic concentration at S2 may be strongly affected by human activities in urbanized areas, which can explain the abundance of MPs at this point. All of these contributors together may result in the higher microplastic abundance observed in Gehu Lake
Our results demonstrated that fishery activities and human sewage might be the main sources of microplastic pollution in Gehu Lake

Summary

Introduction

Microplastic pollution is a global environmental threat (Hu et al 2020). there are much more researches on marine microplastic pollution than freshwater microplastic pollution, probably because the marine ecosystem is considered to be the final sink of MPs. MPs pose the greatest threat to different ecosystems and organisms due to their potential physical and chemical hazards (Lu et al 2018; Ward and Kach 2009). Such as shellfish, fish (Digka et al 2018; Wright et al 2013), Seabird (Amélineau et al 2016), Sea turtle (Duncan et al 2018) even mammals may mistakenly eat microplastic particles as food, which will cause damage to biological organs, obstruction of the gastrointestinal tract and growth restriction (Wright et al 2013).

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Results

Conclusion