Study on the potential of sea urchin Tripneustes gratilla (Linnaeus, 1758) as a bioindicator dangerous plastic pollution in environment of gunungkidul beach Yogyakarta

Abstract

Yogyakarta has a lot of beaches, especially in the Gunungkidul district. Sepanjang and Nglolang are tourist beaches in Gunungkidul, while Porok is a research station for the Faculty of Biology UGM. One common types of waste in the ocean is microplastic. The presence of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems in high numbers can threaten the population of benthic organisms and the stability of the ecosystem. Tripneustes gratilla, one of the sea urchins, can be used as an indicator of environmental pollution because it eats algae and detritus at the bottom of the water. This study aims to determine the microplastic content in seawater, beach substrates, and Tripneustes gratilla organs. Sampling by purposive random sampling, Analysis of microplastics in water, substrate, intestinal and gonads organs. The results obtained that there were four types of microplastics found: fragments, films, fiber, and monofilaments. The most common type of microplastic found is film. The abundance of microplastics on the substrate is higher than that of water. The abundance of microplastics in the intestinal organs of T. gratilla was higher than its gonads. Based on these results, T. gratilla has the potential as a bioindicator of microplastic pollution in the coastal environment of Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta.