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Comparative analysis of microplastics between beaches and estuaries: a review of existing information
Original title: Análisis comparativo de microplásticos entre playas y estuarios: una revisión de la información existente
Summary
This Spanish-language review compares microplastic contamination between beach and estuarine environments, synthesizing published data on microplastic abundance, composition, and distribution across these two coastal habitat types. Researchers found that both environments show widespread microplastic contamination, with differences in particle size distribution and dominant polymer types reflecting distinct hydrodynamic and biological processes. The review provides a comparative framework for understanding microplastic accumulation in coastal transitional environments.
In the last thirteen years the problem of plastic waste pollution has increased, the vast majority of these wastes do not have a correct final disposal, therefore, they end up in natural ecosystems where due to degradation processes they dissociate, becoming what today it is known as microplastics (MPs). The environmental impact that these micro particles represent is much greater than that of plastics of greater proportions, because their small sizes (5mm) make their identification and removal more complex. This same characteristic makes them capable of: being present in all environmental matrices, entering the food chain through ingestion of fauna, being able to bioaccumulate and biomagnify through it, in addition, since they are particles derived from oil, they act as vectors for other contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that are carcinogens. That is why knowing its distribution is of great importance in order to determine its concentration, sources and possible ways of controlling them. Globally, the problem of MPs is considered the object of study in several countries, however, in coastal areas such as estuaries and beaches, much more research is still needed. In relation to the sample, the Asian continent is the one where more studies have been published with 33 percent, followed by Europe 29 percent, South America 21 percent and North America 17 percent. Currently, the detection methodologies for PMs are varied, there is no worldwide standardized protocol, there are different ways of sampling, analysis, and even of presenting the results, which makes it difficult to compare the occurrence of these microparticles. In this project, the methodologies of twenty-four scientific studies carried out in the last ten years are analyzed and described, making comparisons between them and highlighting important contributions from each one.