Rapid urbanization affects microplastic communities in lake sediments: A case study of Lake Aha in southwest China

Abstract

Effective management of pollutants in urban environments is crucial for achieving sustainable cities. Microplastics, as an emerging pollutant widely present in contemporary environments, have received widespread attention in recent years. However, limited studies have reported the impact of rapid urbanization on regional microplastics. In this study, the abundance and composition of microplastic communities in the sediments of Lake Aha were analyzed using a “microplastic community” and slicing the sediments at 5 cm intervals. Results showed that microplastic abundance of sediments in Lake Aha was relatively high (up to 1700 items/kg) and decreased with increasing depth, with the highest abundance found in the surface layer (0–5 cm, 1090 ± 474 items/kg). Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal component analysis (PCA), and analysis of similarities (ANOSIM) revealed that the different sediment layers could be classified into high and low urbanization level groups based on the composition of microplastic communities. Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) indicated that agricultural input was the main source of microplastic pollution during low urbanization levels, characterized by low abundance, large particle size, and high fiber proportion, while urban activities dominated during high urbanization levels, with high abundance, small particle size, high proportion of Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), fragments, and granules, and colorful microplastics. This study clarifies the impact of urbanization on the abundance and composition of microplastics in lake sediments, which has implications for more effective management and control of microplastic pollution in regions undergoing rapid urbanization.