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Tier 2
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Original research — experimental, observational, or case-control study. Direct primary evidence.
Marine & Wildlife
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Vertical transfer of microplastics in nearshore water by cultured filter-feeding oysters
Journal of Hazardous Materials2024
27 citations
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Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Score: 55
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0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Researchers measured how cultured oysters transfer microplastics from surface waters to the seafloor through their natural filter-feeding and waste-depositing behavior. They found that biodeposits from oysters contained 3.5 times more microplastics than natural sediment deposits, with a single oyster depositing an estimated 16 microplastic particles per day, suggesting aquaculture areas may become hotspots for microplastic accumulation on the ocean floor.
Microplastics (MPs) are widely distributed in the sea, but the vertical transfer of MPs by marine organisms in coastal area is still poorly understood. In this study, we used laser direct infrared (LDIR) spectroscopy to determine the number and characteristics of MPs deposited by cultured oyster Crassostrea gigas and further compared the differences between MPs of natural deposit and biodeposit in field environments. The amounts of MPs found in the biodeposit of cultured oysters were 3.54 times greater than that in the natural deposition. The polymer types of biodeposit MPs also differed from those of natural deposition. It was estimated that a single oyster can deposit 15.88 MPs per day, which is a figure much higher than the initial results, and hotspots of MPs deposition may be formed within the oyster aquaculture area. We used generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) to further infer the sources of MPs in sediments and found that distance to shore, cultured zone and urban center were important predictors of MPs abundance in sediments of aquaculture area. The above results suggest that cultured bivalves have an important capacity for MPs biodeposition and will further change the vertical distribution pattern of MPs in coastal environments.