Abstract
Microplastics (MPs) pollution is arousing growing attention, yet knowledge about its occurrence in amphibians is scant to date. With this study, we aimed to determine whether plastic (>5000 μm) and MPs (10–5000 μm) could be detected in adult Rana temporaria from a high-mountain ecosystem (the Cottian Alps, northwest Italy). To do this, aquatic compartments and the digestive tract of adult R. temporaria were analyzed. Water, sediment, periphyton, aquatic macroinvertebrates, and tadpoles tested negative for plastic and MPs. Microplastics were detected in all the adult frogs (n = 5); all the identified items (one per specimen) were fibers (size range: 550.91–2355.51 µm). A statistically significant positive correlation between the particle length and frog size was recorded. The predominant fiber color was blue. The chemical composition was polyamide (60%), polyethylene (20%), and polyethylene terephthalate (20%). Since both the biotic and the abiotic freshwater compartments (tadpoles included) revealed the absence of MPs, it can be assumed that adult frogs ingest MPs from the surrounding terrestrial environment.
Highlights
Plastic is an extraordinarily versatile material, but the associated disadvantages are becoming increasingly evident, for the consumption of non-renewable resources and fossil hydrocarbons [1,2]
We measured the occurrence of plastic and MPs in adult specimens of Rana temporaria and analyzed biotic and abiotic aquatic compartments in a high-mountain pond
Diptera Chironomidae, which are classified as collector–gatherers in the functional feeding groups (FFG) [36], forage on particles in sediments
Summary
Plastic is an extraordinarily versatile material, but the associated disadvantages are becoming increasingly evident, for the consumption of non-renewable resources and fossil hydrocarbons [1,2]. Plastics generate an enormous quantity of waste: Researchers estimate that more than 8.3 billion tons of plastic have been produced since the early 1950s. About 60% of that plastic has ended up in either landfills or the natural environment [3]. These plastics that enter the environment contaminate the soil, rivers, lakes, and the oceans [3]. It has been estimated that approximately 8 million tons of plastic litter per year end up in different oceans, of which 80% of ocean plastics come from land-based sources [4]. The world annual production of plastics was 1.7 million tons in the 1950s [5] and totaled 368 million tons in 2019, 57.9 million tons (16%) of which were from Europe [6]
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