dc.contributor.author | Cole, Matthew | |
dc.contributor.author | Webb, H | |
dc.contributor.author | Lindeque, PK | |
dc.contributor.author | Fileman, ES | |
dc.contributor.author | Halsband, C | |
dc.contributor.author | Galloway, Tamara S. | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2014-06-25T09:36:13Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2014-03-31 | |
dc.description.abstract | Microplastic litter is a pervasive pollutant present in aquatic systems across the globe. A range of marine organisms have the capacity to ingest microplastics, resulting in adverse health effects. Developing methods to accurately quantify microplastics in productive marine waters, and those internalized by marine organisms, is of growing importance. Here we investigate the efficacy of using acid, alkaline and enzymatic digestion techniques in mineralizing biological material from marine surface trawls to reveal any microplastics present. Our optimized enzymatic protocol can digest >97% (by weight) of the material present in plankton-rich seawater samples without destroying any microplastic debris present. In applying the method to replicate marine samples from the western English Channel, we identified 0.27 microplastics m(-3). The protocol was further used to extract microplastics ingested by marine zooplankton under laboratory conditions. Our findings illustrate that enzymatic digestion can aid the detection of microplastic debris within seawater samples and marine biota. | en_GB |
dc.description.sponsorship | Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) | en_GB |
dc.identifier.citation | Vol. 4, pp. 4528 - | en_GB |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1038/srep04528 | |
dc.identifier.grantnumber | NE I528034 | en_GB |
dc.identifier.other | srep04528 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10871/15100 | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_GB |
dc.publisher | Nature Publishing Group | en_GB |
dc.relation.url | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24681661 | en_GB |
dc.relation.url | http://www.nature.com/srep/2014/140331/srep04528/full/srep04528.html | en_GB |
dc.rights | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. The images in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the image credit; if the image is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder in order to reproduce the image. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ | en_GB |
dc.title | Isolation of microplastics in biota-rich seawater samples and marine organisms. | en_GB |
dc.type | Article | en_GB |
dc.date.available | 2014-06-25T09:36:13Z | |
dc.identifier.issn | 2045-2322 | |
exeter.place-of-publication | England | |
dc.description | notes: PMCID: PMC3970126 | en_GB |
dc.description | types: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't | en_GB |
dc.description | This is an open access article that is freely available in ORE or from the publisher's web site. Please cite the published version. | en_GB |
dc.identifier.journal | Scientific Reports | en_GB |