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Collection and Characterization of Microplastics Debris in Marine Ecosystems
Summary
This book chapter describes the key procedures for collecting and characterizing microplastic debris from seawater, sediment, and marine organisms. It covers density separation, sieving, filtration, and spectroscopic identification techniques. The chapter highlights gaps in standardization and discusses emerging extraction approaches for marine microplastic analysis.
This chapter explores the key procedures for sampling, collection, identification, and quantification of the abundance of microplastics (MPs) particles in the marine environment. In marine ecosystems, MP debris exists ubiquitously in seawater, sediments, macrophytes, plankton, shellfish, and fish species. Physically separating the MPs from seawater and sediment samples relies mainly on density separation, sieving, and filtration. Novel extraction techniques for MP are rarely discussed in the literature except for the use of ultrasonication in assisting extraction. Visual identification is the simplest, oldest, and most straightforward strategy of MP analysis. Identification under a light microscope is employed for smaller MPs usually < 1 mm. Scanning electron microscopy is commonly used for the identification of MPs from environmental samples. Infrared (IR) spectroscopy measures transitions between molecular vibrational energy levels in a measured sample by absorption of IR radiation. Quality assurance/quality control has not been well recognized in past MP research.