Current and Future Effects of Microplastics on Marine Shelf Ecosystems (MINIMISE)

微塑料对海洋陆架生态系统当前和未来的影响（MINIMISE）

• 批准号: NE/S003967/1
• 负责人: Richard Thompson
• 金额: $ 34.55万
• 依托单位: Plymouth University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FS003967%2F1
• 关键词: Current; Future; Effects; Microplastics; Marine

Marine plastic debris has been recorded across all parts of the globe and its potential to cause harm to marine wildlife and the healthy functioning of the oceans is an area of huge current concern. Microscopic plastic debris, (microplastic <5 mm in size and with no lower size limit), is a particular concern since its small size allows it to be consumed by many marine organisms, including those at the base of marine food webs and/or intended for human consumption. Coastal oceans are particularly vulnerable; they are in close proximity to human activities that contribute towards pollution and at the same time they are highly productive habitats that support a high abundance of marine life. Protecting these vulnerable habitats from any risk from microplastics is a high priority, but is hindered by a lack of fundamental knowledge; of what methods to use to measure them in marine samples and wildlife, of how microplastics move and behave in the marine environment, how they get into marine animals and what the consequences are for individual animals and for the healthy function of marine ecosystems. In this project we have brought together 4 Universities, the National Oceanography Centre and the Centre for the Environment, Fisheries and Agricultural Sciences (Cefas) to tackle these critical knowledge gaps, focusing on the UK Shelf seas. Our consortium includes scientists with a wealth of expertise in polymer science and the ecotoxicology of microplastics as pollutants, and who have pioneered the field. This unique expertise is strengthened by the addition of new, exciting approaches brought by excellent early career scientists with expertise in understanding the responses of marine ecosystems including at the microbial level and in using computational approaches to calculate environmental risk.We have designed a programme of work that includes many cutting edge new advances in technology, including a new method for measuring microplastics called FLAIR (Fluorescence assisted infrared microscopy) that offer the potential for rapid screening of many samples at once, allowing us to make experimental plans unhindered by technological limitations. We will develop the use of highly sensitive bio-imaging techniques to visualise microplastics deep within living tissues (Hyperspectral imaging, Coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy) and Quantittive Whole Body Autoradiography (QWBA) for tracing how microplastics move between prey animals and their predators. We will determine how the presence of microplastics and examples of the ubiquitous priority pollutants that can sorb to them in seawater affect the biology of marine invertebrates and fish. We will also determine how microplastics and contaminants affect the functioning of marine shelf seas sediments and the organisms that live in them under different ocean chemistry conditions. This is important because these processes support many aspects of marine life. Finally, we will bring all of this data together with the very extensive body of existing monitoring data available to the project through ongoing activities of all partners, to construct a geospatial risk map for the UK shelf seas, using the latest approaches in integrated risk assessment. This unique risk map will offer a predictive tool for working out where impacts from microplastics pollution are likely to occur and risks are greatest, enabling policy makers to make science-backed assertions, e.g. to protect vulnerable habitats, aquaculture, fish spawning areas, fishing activities and other relevant ecosystem services. It will also provide a means of tracking remedial actions and to investigate whether there are 'proxies' for the presence of microplastic pollution that are quicker and easier to measure than microplastics themselves.

全球各地都有海洋塑料碎片的记录，其对海洋野生动物和海洋健康功能造成伤害的可能性是当前备受关注的领域。微观塑料碎片（微塑料尺寸<5毫米，没有尺寸下限）是一个特别值得关注的问题，因为其尺寸小，可以被许多海洋生物消耗，包括那些位于海洋食物网底部和/或预期的海洋生物。供人类消费。沿海海洋尤其脆弱；它们与造成污染的人类活动非常接近，同时它们也是高生产力的栖息地，支持大量的海洋生物。保护这些脆弱的栖息地免受微塑料带来的任何风险是当务之急，但由于缺乏基础知识而受到阻碍；使用什么方法来测量海洋样本和野生动物中的微塑料、微塑料在海洋环境中如何移动和表现、它们如何进入海洋动物以及对个体动物和海洋生态系统的健康功能产生什么后果。在这个项目中，我们汇集了 4 所大学、国家海洋学中心以及环境、渔业和农业科学中心 (Cefas)，以解决这些关键的知识差距，重点关注英国陆架海。我们的联盟包括在聚合物科学和污染物微塑料生态毒理学方面拥有丰富专业知识的科学家，并且是该领域的先驱。这种独特的专业知识通过添加新的、令人兴奋的方法而得到加强，这些方法是由优秀的早期职业科学家带来的，他们在了解海洋生态系统的反应（包括微生物水平）和使用计算方法来计算环境风险方面具有专业知识。我们设计了一个工作计划其中包括许多尖端技术的新进步，包括一种称为 FLAIR（荧光辅助红外显微镜）的测量微塑料的新方法，它提供了同时快速筛选许多样本的潜力，使我们能够不受技术限制的阻碍制定实验计划。我们将开发使用高度敏感的生物成像技术来可视化活体组织深处的微塑料（高光谱成像、相干反斯托克斯拉曼光谱）和定量全身放射自显影（QWBA）来追踪微塑料如何在猎物和捕食者之间移动。我们将确定微塑料的存在以及海水中可吸附微塑料的普遍存在的优先污染物的例子如何影响海洋无脊椎动物和鱼类的生物学。我们还将确定微塑料和污染物如何影响不同海洋化学条件下海洋陆架海洋沉积物和生活在其中的生物体的功能。这很重要，因为这些过程支持海洋生物的许多方面。最后，我们将通过所有合作伙伴的持续活动，将所有这些数据与项目可用的非常广泛的现有监测数据结合起来，利用综合风险评估的最新方法构建英国陆架海的地理空间风险图。这种独特的风险图将提供一个预测工具，用于确定微塑料污染的影响可能发生在哪里以及风险最大的地方，使政策制定者能够做出有科学依据的断言，例如保护脆弱的栖息地、水产养殖、鱼类产卵区、捕鱼活动和其他相关生态系统服务。它还将提供一种跟踪补救措施的方法，并调查是否存在比微塑料本身更快、更容易测量的微塑料污染的“替代物”。

项目成果

Translocation of 14C-polystyrene nanoplastics into fish during a very-low concentration dietary exposure.

• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.140058
• 发表时间: 2023-09
• 期刊: Chemosphere
• 影响因子: 8.8
• 作者: N. Clark;Astrid C. Fischer;Lee Durndell;Tamara S. Galloway;Richard C. Thompson

A spatial and temporal assessment of microplastics in seafloor sediments: A case study for the UK

• DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2022.1093815
• 发表时间: 2023-01-12
• 期刊: FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
• 影响因子: 3.7
• 作者: Bakir, Adil;Doran, Denise;Nicolaus, E. E. Manuel
• 通讯作者: Nicolaus, E. E. Manuel

The ecotoxicological consequences of microplastics and co-contaminants in aquatic organisms: a mini-review.

• DOI: 10.1042/etls20220014
• 发表时间: 2022-12-01
• 期刊: Emerging topics in life sciences
• 影响因子: 3.8

Plastic pollution: the science we need for the planet we want.

• DOI: 10.1042/etls20220019
• 发表时间: 2022-12
• 期刊: Emerging topics in life sciences
• 影响因子: 3.8
• 作者: Winnie Courtene-Jones;N. Clark;Richard C. Thompson

Examining the release of synthetic microfibres to the environment via two major pathways: Atmospheric deposition and treated wastewater effluent.

检查合成微纤维通过两个主要途径向环境中的释放：大气沉降和处理后的废水排放。

• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159317
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: The Science of the total environment
• 作者: Napper IE