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Microplastics in coral reef sediments underestimated? They may hide in biominerals

The Science of The Total Environment 2023 11 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 40 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Chiu‐Wen Chen, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Yee Cheng Lim, Yee Cheng Lim, Cheng‐Di Dong Chiu‐Wen Chen, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Yun‐Ru Ju, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Yun‐Ru Ju, Yun‐Ru Ju, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Yee Cheng Lim, Frank Paolo Jay B. Albarico, Frank Paolo Jay B. Albarico, Frank Paolo Jay B. Albarico, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Yun‐Ru Ju, Yun‐Ru Ju, Cheng‐Di Dong Yee Cheng Lim, Yee Cheng Lim, Yee Cheng Lim, Yee Cheng Lim, Yurong Cheng, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Frank Paolo Jay B. Albarico, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Yurong Cheng, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Frank Paolo Jay B. Albarico, Yee Cheng Lim, Yee Cheng Lim, Yee Cheng Lim, Yee Cheng Lim, Yee Cheng Lim, Frank Paolo Jay B. Albarico, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Yee Cheng Lim, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Frank Paolo Jay B. Albarico, Frank Paolo Jay B. Albarico, Yee Cheng Lim, Yee Cheng Lim, Frank Paolo Jay B. Albarico, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Yurong Cheng, Yurong Cheng, Chongtai Ke, Chongtai Ke, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Frank Paolo Jay B. Albarico, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Cheng‐Di Dong Chiu‐Wen Chen, Cheng‐Di Dong Chiu‐Wen Chen, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Cheng‐Di Dong Cheng‐Di Dong Cheng‐Di Dong Frank Paolo Jay B. Albarico, Yurong Cheng, Cheng‐Di Dong Cheng‐Di Dong Chiu‐Wen Chen, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Chiu‐Wen Chen, Yurong Cheng, Cheng‐Di Dong Cheng‐Di Dong Cheng‐Di Dong Cheng‐Di Dong Cheng‐Di Dong Cheng‐Di Dong Cheng‐Di Dong Cheng‐Di Dong Cheng‐Di Dong Cheng‐Di Dong

Summary

Standard lab methods for measuring microplastics in coral reef sediments may significantly undercount them because particles can become trapped inside calcium carbonate biominerals, which are typically ignored in processing. By adding an acid digestion step to dissolve the biominerals, this study found substantially more microplastics, suggesting current estimates of plastic contamination in reef environments are likely too low.

Microplastics (MPs) may be underestimated in coral reef sediments. Current pretreatments for determining MPs in the sediments are mainly density separation and organic matter removal, ignoring MPs that may be embedded or encrusted in biominerals. This could lead to discrepancies in assessing the potential risk of MPs contamination. To confirm whether MPs in coral reef sediments are underestimated, a two-step sequential digestion, including organic matter removal (HO digestion) and biomineral removal (HCl digestion), was performed on sediments from the coral reef area of the South Penghu Marine National Park (SPMNP, Taiwan). The MPs abundance and characteristics of the two steps were analyzed separately. The results showed that the average MPs abundance after HCl digestion (78 ± 42 MPs/kg) was significantly higher than that of HO digestion (38 ± 25 MPs/kg). The MPs diversity integrated index (MPDII) in coral reef sediments was low (MPDII = 0.35), and MPs were mainly small (<2.0 mm, 91.3 %), fibrous (93.5 %), colored (60.9 %), and rayon polymers (73.9 %). Correlation analysis showed that MPs in biominerals mainly dominated MPs in the sediments. These results confirm that current assessments of MPs contamination levels in biomineral-rich sediments may be underestimated and uncertain. In addition, the mineralization of organisms in SPMNP reef regions was affected by MPs from moderate to high levels, depending on the proportion of MPs in biominerals.

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