Hidden microplastics of the Niagara Basin: distribution, variability, and ecotoxicology in water and sediments

全球从山顶到海底都发现了塑料碎片，这是对塑料垃圾进行不当报废管理的结果。一旦塑料碎片到达水体，水就扮演了运输工具的角色，分发和传播颗粒。由于其缓慢的降解过程，塑料可以在水环境中持续数百年，如果不是数千年的话，因此会产生长期的不利经济和生态影响。微塑料(MPS)是小于5毫米的塑料颗粒，甚至在深海海底和偏远北极地区的沉积物样本中也能发现。由于它们的大小，MPS可以被各种水生动物摄取，从浮游动物到鲨鱼和鲸鱼等微小生物，并进入食物链的上游。在五大湖，据估计，防治和减少塑料污染每年将耗资4亿美元。在过去的十年里，出现了不同的清理技术，比如旨在收集漂浮在海面和湖面上的大型塑料垃圾。然而，最近的几项研究表明，表面塑料积累仅占全球水生塑料污染的1%左右。剩下的99%的水产塑料则隐藏在水柱和沉积物中。安大略湖位于人口稠密、工业和旅游区附近。水质受到人类活动的严重影响。基于现场的研究表明，安大略湖水柱和沉积物中MPS的浓度高得不成比例。尽管它们很重要，但我们对水生MPS分布的了解是有限的。我们的跨学科研究将调查在安大略湖西部盆地，即尼亚加拉盆地，MPS的运输积累和生态毒理学的物理过程。利用联合建模和直接水和沉积物采样，我们的目标是了解水流和重力流在MPS输送中的影响，并制定安大略湖的一些重要风化过程。此外，我们将调查MP流入的变异性，并评估MP变异性对本地和入侵生物的生态影响。与加拿大环境和气候变化部、安大略省环境、保护和公园部以及污染探测器合作，这项多学科研究将汇集具有流体力学、环境科学、流域水文学和毒理学专业知识的研究人员。这些联邦和省级合作伙伴将从产生新的研究知识中受益，以改进他们在安大略湖MPS管理和风险评估方面的做法和政策。

Plastic debris is found globally from mountain tops to seafloors and is a result of improper end-of-life management of plastic waste. Once the plastic debris reaches a body of water, water acts as a transport vehicle and distributes and spreads the particles. Due to their slow degradation processes, plastics can last in aquatic environments for centuries if not for millennia, and hence have long-term adverse economic and ecological impacts. Microplastics (MPs) are plastic particles smaller than 5mm and are found even in deep sea floors and sediment samples from remote arctic areas. Due to their size, MPs can be ingested by various aquatic animals, ranging from tiny creatures like zooplankton to sharks and whales and move up into the food chain. In the Great Lakes, it is estimated that combating and minimizing plastic pollution will cost $400 million annually. Different clean-up technologies have emerged in the past decade, such as aiming to collect floating large plastic debris from ocean and lake surfaces. Several recent studies, however, suggest that the surface plastic accumulation only accounts for about 1% of global aquatic plastic pollution. The remaining 99% of aquatic plastics are "hidden" in the water column and sediments. Lake Ontario is located in the vicinity of densely populated, industrial, and touristic regions. The water quality has been severely affected by human activities. Field-based studies have shown disproportionally high concertations of MPs in water column and sediments in Lake Ontario. Despite their importance, our knowledge of the distribution of aquatic MPs is limited. Our interdisciplinary research will investigate the physical processes responsible for the transport accumulation, and ecotoxicology of MPs in the western basin of Lake Ontario, known as the Niagara Basin. Using combined modelling and direct water and sediment sampling efforts, we aim to understand the impact of currents and gravity flows in the transport of MPs and formulate some of the important weathering processes in Lake Ontario. Furthermore, we will investigate MP influx variability and assess the resultant ecological implications of MP variability on native and invasive organisms. In partnership with Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks, and Pollution Probe, this multi-disciplinary research will bring together researchers with expertise in fluid mechanics, environmental science, watershed hydrology, and toxicology. These federal and provincial partners will benefit from the generation of new research knowledge to improve their practices and policies in the management and risk assessment of MPs in Lake Ontario.