Abundance and characterization of microplastics in amphipods from the Japanese coastal environment.

Yasuharu Katte, Junya Saito, Edward G Nagato

Environmental science and pollution research international 2023 Mar

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Microplastics can be ingested by tiny detritivores such as amphipods, with potential consequences on the food chain. The present study characterizes the abundance, chemical composition, and size of microplastics in amphipods found in the Japan Sea coastal environment, which is a hotspot for microplastic accumulation. High amounts of microplastic ingestion and a large discrepancy by amphipod species, Talorchestia nipponensis, Ampithoe valida, and Trinorchestia trinitatis, were observed (between 0.2 and 76.3 particles/individual) which may be due to differences in habitat preference and background contamination. This result indicates that coastal amphipods in particular may ingest large amounts of microplastics. The average microplastic particle size in amphipods was 59 ± 8.6 µm, with 83% of particles smaller than 90 µm, and polyethylene was dominant. This study provides insights into microplastic abundance in coastal amphipods and the context for further studies on coastal amphipod microplastic ingestion. © 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Citation

Yasuharu Katte, Junya Saito, Edward G Nagato. Abundance and characterization of microplastics in amphipods from the Japanese coastal environment. Environmental science and pollution research international. 2023 Mar;30(12):35505-35512