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Exploring the relation between plastic ingestion in species and its presence in seafloor bottoms
Summary
This study examined the relationship between microplastic abundance on the western Mediterranean seafloor and microplastic ingestion by marine species caught in the same bottom trawl hauls. Fish and invertebrates that live near plastic-rich seafloor sediments had higher rates of microplastic ingestion, suggesting that benthic plastic accumulation drives exposure in bottom-feeding organisms.
In order to have a wider understanding of the impacts of plastics on marine ecosystems, studies should approach different environmental compartments, such as seafloor and biota, at the same time. The aim of this research is to study the relation between microplastic ingestion in species and the amount of seafloor plastics caught in the same bottom trawls hauls of the western Mediterranean Sea to describe a potential overlap between these two indicators of plastic pollution. According to results, 15% of the sampled individuals ingested microplastics with a mean value of 0.30 ± 0.40 microplastics/individuals. Regarding seafloor plastics, these were present in 58% of the hauls with a mean value of 1.31 ± 0.09 kg/km. The highest overlap between ingestion of microplastic in species and seafloor plastics was observed in the bay of Palma, the most urbanized area, but also in areas close to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).