Assessment of the estuarine shoreline microplastics and mesoplastics of the River Itchen, Southampton (UK) for contaminants and for their interaction with invertebrate fauna

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2024-01, Vol.31 (4), p.6437-6459
• Main Authors: Rose, Deanna L. G., Hudson, Malcolm D., Bray, Sargent, Gaca, Pawel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amphipoda; Animals; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Biometrics; Chemical contaminants; Chemical pollution; Contaminants; Contamination; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecological effects; Ecosystem; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental Monitoring; Estuaries; Estuarine ecosystems; Foams; Geologic Sediments; Microplastics; Nature reserves; Plastic debris; Plastic pollution; Plastics - chemistry; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; Population dynamics; Research Article; Rivers; Sediment load; Sediments; Shorelines; Trace metals; United Kingdom; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Pollution Control
• ISSN: 1614-7499; 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-31396-6

The presence of shoreline microplastics (1–5 mm) and mesoplastics (5–25 mm) in estuarine ecosystems is ubiquitous, but there remains little data on their composition, contamination status and ecological impacts. Chessel Bay Nature Reserve, situated in the internationally protected Itchen Estuary in Southampton, UK, has serious issues with shoreline plastic accumulation. In evaluating potentially adverse ecological impacts, the influence of quantities of shoreline microplastic (mp) and mesoplastic (MeP) material and adsorbed contaminants (PAHs and trace metals) on the biometrics and population dynamics of the burrowing supralittoral amphipod, Orchestia gammarellus , was assessed in this study. mp/MeP concentrations were variable in surface (0–42%: 0–422,640 mg/kg dry sediment) and subsurface horizons (0.001–10%: 11—97,797 mg/kg dry sediment). Secondary microplastics accounted for 77% of the total microplastic load (dominated by fragments and foams), but also comprised 23% nurdles/pellets (primary microplastics). Sorption mechanisms between contaminants and natural sediments were proposed to be the main contributor to the retention of PAHs and trace metal contaminants and less so, by mp/MeP. O. gammarellus populations showed a positive correlation with microplastic concentrations (Spearman correlation, R  = 0.665, p  = 0.036). Some reported toxicological thresholds were exceeded in sediments, but no impacts related to chemical contaminant concentrations were demonstrated. This study highlights a protected site with the severe plastic contamination, and the difficulty in demonstrating in situ ecotoxicological impacts.