Lost at sea: Where is all the plastic?
Lost at sea: Where is all the plastic?
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DOI：
10.1126/science.1094559
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发表时间：
2004-05-07
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
Russell, AE
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Thompson, RC;Olsen, Y;Russell, AE
每年生产数百万吨塑料。无数的大型塑料碎片堆积在世界各地的海洋栖息地，可能会持续几个世纪(1-4个)。在这里，我们显示了微小的塑料碎片和纤维(图1a)也广泛存在于海洋中，并在远洋带和沉积生境中积累。这些碎片似乎是较大物品降解的结果。这种大小的塑料被海洋生物摄取，但这种污染对环境的影响尚不清楚。在过去的40年里，从极点到赤道的栖息地经常记录到大量的塑料碎片(1-4)。更小的碎片，可能也是塑料的，已经被报道过(5)，但受到的关注要少得多。大多数塑料耐生物降解，但会通过机械作用逐渐分解(6)。许多“可生物降解”的塑料是与淀粉等材料的复合材料，这些材料可生物降解，留下大量不可降解的塑料碎片。有些清洗剂还含有研磨性塑料碎片(2)。为了量化微塑料的丰度，我们从海滩和英国普利茅斯周围的河口和潮下沉积物中收集了沉积物(图1B)。密度较低的颗粒通过浮选分离。去除那些在外观上与天然颗粒材料(图1a)不同的物质，并用傅立叶变换红外光谱(FT-IR)进行鉴定(7)。一些是天然的，另一些无法识别，但大约三分之一是合成聚合物(图1C)。这些聚合物存在于大多数样品中(30个样品中有23个)，但在潮下沉积物中含量明显更丰富(图1D)。确定了9种聚合物：丙烯酸、醇酸、聚(乙烯：丙烯)、聚酰胺(尼龙)、聚酯、聚乙烯、聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯、聚丙烯和聚乙烯醇。这些有广泛的用途，包括服装，包装-
Millions of metric tons of plastic are produced annually. Countless large items of plastic debris are accumulating in marine habitats worldwide and may persist for centuries (1–4). Here we show that microscopic plastic fragments and fibers (Fig. 1A) are also widespread in the oceans and have accumulated in the pelagic zone and sedimentary habitats. The fragments appear to have resulted from degradation of larger items. Plastics of this size are ingested by marine organisms, but the environmental consequences of this contamination are still unknown. Over the past 40 years, large items of plastic debris have frequently been recorded in habitats from the poles to the equator (1–4). Smaller fragments, probably also plastic, have been reported (5) but have received far less attention. Most plastics are resistant to biodegradation, but will break down gradually through mechanical action (6). Many “biodegradable” plastics are composites with materials such as starch that biodegrade, leaving behind numerous, nondegradable, plastic fragments (6). Some cleaning agents also contain abrasive plastic fragments (2). Hence, there is considerable potential for large-scale accumulation of microscopic plastic debris.To quantify the abundance of microplastics, we collected sediment from beaches and from estuarine and subtidal sediments around Plymouth, UK (Fig. 1B). Less dense particles were separated by flotation. Those that differed in appearance to natural particulate material (Fig. 1A) were removed and identified with Fourier Transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy (7). Some were of natural origin and others could not be identified, but about one third were synthetic polymers (Fig. 1C). These polymers were present in most samples (23 out of 30), but were significantly more abundant in subtidal sediment (Fig. 1D). Nine polymers were conclusively identified: acrylic, alkyd, poly (ethylene: propylene), polyamide (nylon), polyester, polyethylene, polymethylacrylate, polypropylene, and polyvinyl-alcohol. These have a wide range of uses, including clothing, packag-