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Water
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Microplastics in Marine Environment: Dynamics, Monitoring and Ecotoxicity
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Microplastics in Marine Environment: Dynamics, Monitoring and Ecotoxicity

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Oceans and Coastal Zones".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2022) | Viewed by 6034

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Vlado Cuculić

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Ruđer Bošković Institute, Division for Marine and Environmental Research, Bijenička cesta 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: marine chemistry; biogeochemistry of trace metals; marine microplastics; mercury speciation
Dr. Véronique Lenoble

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Université de Toulon, MIO, UMR CNRS 7294, CS 60584 83041 Toulon, CEDEX 9, France
Interests: inorganic contaminants; metal dynamics in water and sediments; link with microbiology; bioaccumulation; microplastics as vectors of metal contamination

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to global consumerism, ever-increasing quantities of plastic waste are directly or indirectly entering the sea, becoming a serious threat (physical, chemical, biological) to marine systems. With an annual production of 350 megatons (and rising), plastic is one of the major global pollutants and collects in the ocean due to its long decomposing time. Unlike "macro-plastic", formation, distribution and ultimately the fate of microplastics in the marine environment are still largely unknown. The dynamics of microplastics through the column water is also subject to debate: the physical–chemical properties of polymers have led us to think that microplastics should float, but it has now been demonstrated that an important part is sinking and prone to disperse according to water movements and biological impact. Microplastics are a multiple stressor in aquatic environments. One of the series of negative and, for the living world, dangerous effects of floating microplastic waste is also the ability of these materials to adsorb various organic and inorganic ecotoxicants from the marine environment on their surfaces with high concentration factors, hence, posing a threat to the marine environment, especially to marine organisms and, consequently, humans.

Articles published in this Special Issue will expand the scientific knowledge that will be used by a wide and diverse audience, such as Earth and environmental scientists, practitioners, policy makers, and non-specialist readers.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to publish original, high-quality research papers, as well as review articles, addressing recent advances in marine microplastics research: new methods and developments in monitoring, advances concerning microplastic dynamics and ecotoxicity, as well as microplastics as vectors of contamination.

Dr. Vlado Cuculić
Dr. Véronique Lenoble
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • polymers
  • plastic pollution
  • microplastics
  • marine environment
  • ecotoxicity
  • dynamics of microplastics
  • monitoring methods

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1283 KiB  
Article
Microplastic Distribution through the Salinity Gradient in a Stratified Estuary
by Marija Parać, Vlado Cuculić, Nuša Cukrov, Sunčana Geček, Marin Lovrić and Neven Cukrov
Water 2022, 14(20), 3255; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14203255 - 15 Oct 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2858
Abstract
Despite the extensive and rapidly growing literature on microplastics in oceans and coastal seas, little information exists on microplastic distribution through the salinity gradient. This study is the first one to evaluate microplastic distribution through the salinity gradient of a highly stratified estuary. [...] Read more.
Despite the extensive and rapidly growing literature on microplastics in oceans and coastal seas, little information exists on microplastic distribution through the salinity gradient. This study is the first one to evaluate microplastic distribution through the salinity gradient of a highly stratified estuary. A total of 910 microplastic particles were collected from 12 different sampling events in the Krka River estuary, Croatia. The number of detected particles ranged from 389 in the surface layer to 63 in the deepest marine layer. The highest plastic abundance was found in the surface layer (3.68 particles/m3) and the lowest in the marine layer (0.13 particles/m3). The measured values of the cross-sectional area indicated an ellipsoidal cross-sectional shape of the particles. It was also found that the majority of microplastic particles belonged to the small microplastic class (<1 mm). The Nile Red (NR) staining method was used to visualize fluorescent microplastic particles, while quantification was performed using ImageJ/Fiji software. The strong salinity stratification in the studied estuary did not alter the usual distribution of microplastic particles in the water column, and there was no significant accumulation on the halocline. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microplastics in Marine Environment: Dynamics, Monitoring and Ecotoxicity)
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22 pages, 8451 KiB  
Article
Nanoplastic-Induced Nanostructural, Nanomechanical, and Antioxidant Response of Marine Diatom Cylindrotheca closterium
by Tea Mišić Radić, Petra Vukosav, Bruno Komazec, Cécile Formosa-Dague, Darija Domazet Jurašin, Petra Peharec Štefanić, Andrea Čačković, Krunoslav Juraić and Nadica Ivošević DeNardis
Water 2022, 14(14), 2163; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w14142163 - 08 Jul 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2442
Abstract
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of positively charged (amine-modified) and negatively charged (carboxyl-modified) polystyrene nanoplastics (PS NPs) on the nanostructural, nanomechanical, and antioxidant responses of the marine diatom Cylindrotheca closterium. The results showed that both types of [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to examine the effect of positively charged (amine-modified) and negatively charged (carboxyl-modified) polystyrene nanoplastics (PS NPs) on the nanostructural, nanomechanical, and antioxidant responses of the marine diatom Cylindrotheca closterium. The results showed that both types of PS NPs, regardless of surface charge, significantly inhibited the growth of C. closterium during short-term exposure (3 and 4 days). However, longer exposure (14 days) to both PS NPs types did not significantly inhibit growth, which might be related to the detoxifying effect of the microalgal extracellular polymers (EPS) and the higher cell abundance per PS NPs concentration. The exposure of C. closterium to both types of PS NPs at concentrations above the corresponding concentrations that resulted in a 50% reduction of growth (EC50) demonstrated phytotoxic effects, mainly due to the excessive production of reactive oxygen species, resulting in increased oxidative damage to lipids and changes to antioxidant enzyme activities. Diatoms exposed to nanoplastics also showed a significant decrease in cell wall rigidity, which could make the cells more vulnerable. Atomic force microscopy images showed that positively charged PS NPs were mainly adsorbed on the cell surface, while both types of PS NPs were incorporated into the EPS that serves to protect the cells. Since microalgal EPS are an important food source for phytoplankton grazers and higher trophic levels, the incorporation of NPs into the EPS and interactions with the cell walls themselves may pose a major threat to marine microalgae and higher trophic levels and, consequently, to the health and stability of the marine ecosystem. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microplastics in Marine Environment: Dynamics, Monitoring and Ecotoxicity)
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