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.

海洋塑料碎片已被记录在全球所有地区及其对海洋野生动植物造成伤害的潜力，并且海洋的健康功能是当前巨大关注的领域。显微镜塑料碎片（微型塑料<5 mm且尺寸较低的极限）是一个特别关注的问题，因为它的尺寸较小，可以被许多海洋生物（包括在海洋食品网的底部和/或打算用于人类消费的基础的海洋生物食用）。沿海海洋特别脆弱。它们与有助于污染的人类活动非常接近，同时它们是支持高丰富海洋生物的高产栖息地。保护这些脆弱的栖息地免受微塑料的任何风险是一个重中之重，但由于缺乏基本知识而受到阻碍。关于在海洋样品和野生动植物中测量它们的方法，微塑料如何在海洋环境中移动和行为，它们如何进入海洋动物以及对单个动物的后果以及海洋生态系统的健康功能。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（CEFA），以应对这些关键知识差距，重点关注英国货架海。我们的财团包括具有丰富的聚合物科学专业知识的科学家，以及作为污染物的微塑料的生态毒理学，并开创了该领域。通过添加优秀的早期职业科学家提供的新的，令人兴奋的方法可以加强这种独特的专业知识，这些方法在理解海洋生态系统的响应方面具有专业知识，包括在微生物水平上以及使用计算方法来计算环境风险，我们设计了一项工作计划。我们设计了一项工作，包括许多技术的新进步，包括许多用于测量微型塑料的新方法，包括透明型液体效果（流体液体辅助辅助），这些方法包括液体效果辅助的新方法，立即使我们能够制定实验计划，并受到技术局限性的影响。我们将开发使用高度敏感的生物成像技术来可视化生物组织内深处的微塑料（高光谱成像，连贯的反stokes Raman光谱）和量化的全身放射自显影术（QWBA），以追踪微塑料如何在猎物及其捕食者之间移动微塑料。我们将确定微塑料的存在以及无处不在的优先污染物的实例，这些污染物可以在海水中向其索布，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海洋架子海洋沉积物的功能以及在不同的海洋化学条件下生活在其中的生物。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现有监控数据相同，并使用集成风险评估中的最新方法来为英国货架海构建地理空间风险图。这张独特的风险图将提供一个预测工具，用于锻炼可能发生微塑料污染的影响，风险最大，使政策制定者能够做出科学支持的断言，例如保护脆弱的栖息地，水产养殖，鱼产区，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，并研究是否存在比微塑料本身更快，更易于测量的微型污染的“代理”。

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