Microplastic Pollution in Marine Environment: Occurrence, Fate …
121
5 Conclusion and Perspectives
As a new type of pollutant, microplastics have a huge impact on marine ecosystems,
which has attracted worldwide attention. Due to the comprehensive influence of physical, chemical, and biological effects, microplastics are widely distributed in various
kinds of marine water bodies which will eventually migrate into marine sediments
through physical and biological means. The microplastics accumulated in the sediment environment can indirectly influence the carbon and nitrogen cycle in the marine
environment by affecting the composition and function of benthic organisms and
microbial communities, thereby changing the geochemical cycle process on earth.
This article mainly presents the migration, transformation, and fate of microplastics
in different marine environments while discussing their impact on plankton, benthic
organisms, and microbial communities. Finally, the article summarizes the potential
impact of microplastics on the carbon/nitrogen cycle and the mechanisms involved.
The microplastic-associated research deserves more attention, so further studies
need to be carried out to explore the following aspects including but not limited to:
(1) The toxicological effects of microplastics on marine organisms at different
trophic levels. Microplastics in the marine environment will not only exist in
the form of a single pollutant but also release harmful additives. They also
tend to absorb hydrophobic organic pollutants as well as heavy metals, thereby
generating complicated toxicological effects. Hence, it is of great significance
to investigate the toxicological effects of microplastics from different aspects.
(2) The study about the combined effect of microplastics and benthic organisms on
geochemical cycles is rarely documented. Therefore, it is worthwhile to study
the geochemical cycle and its mechanism under the joint action of microplastics
and benthic organisms.
(3) The microplastics that exist in the marine ecological system have a great influence on marine carbon sequestration. The influence of microplastics on ocean
carbon sequestration is yet an emerging hot issue and many conclusions are
still in the speculation period, thus it is necessary to focus on the potential
mechanism and the scale and scope of such impact, especially in the deep sea
and seabed sediment environment.
References
1. Xue W, Huang D, Zeng G, Wan J, Zhang C, Rui X, Cheng M (2017) Nanoscale zero-valent
iron coated with rhamnolipid as an effective stabilizer for immobilization of Cd and Pb in
river sediments. J Hazard Mater 341:381–389
2. PlasticEurope (2019) An analysis of European plastics production, demand and waste data
3. Lebreton L, Van der Zwet J, Damsteeg J-W, Slat B, Andrady AL, Reisser J (2017) River
plastic emissions to the world’s oceans. Nat Commun 8:15611
4. Thompson RC (2004) Lost at sea: where is all the plastic?. Sci 304(5672):838
121
5 Conclusion and Perspectives
As a new type of pollutant, microplastics have a huge impact on marine ecosystems,
which has attracted worldwide attention. Due to the comprehensive influence of physical, chemical, and biological effects, microplastics are widely distributed in various
kinds of marine water bodies which will eventually migrate into marine sediments
through physical and biological means. The microplastics accumulated in the sediment environment can indirectly influence the carbon and nitrogen cycle in the marine
environment by affecting the composition and function of benthic organisms and
microbial communities, thereby changing the geochemical cycle process on earth.
This article mainly presents the migration, transformation, and fate of microplastics
in different marine environments while discussing their impact on plankton, benthic
organisms, and microbial communities. Finally, the article summarizes the potential
impact of microplastics on the carbon/nitrogen cycle and the mechanisms involved.
The microplastic-associated research deserves more attention, so further studies
need to be carried out to explore the following aspects including but not limited to:
(1) The toxicological effects of microplastics on marine organisms at different
trophic levels. Microplastics in the marine environment will not only exist in
the form of a single pollutant but also release harmful additives. They also
tend to absorb hydrophobic organic pollutants as well as heavy metals, thereby
generating complicated toxicological effects. Hence, it is of great significance
to investigate the toxicological effects of microplastics from different aspects.
(2) The study about the combined effect of microplastics and benthic organisms on
geochemical cycles is rarely documented. Therefore, it is worthwhile to study
the geochemical cycle and its mechanism under the joint action of microplastics
and benthic organisms.
(3) The microplastics that exist in the marine ecological system have a great influence on marine carbon sequestration. The influence of microplastics on ocean
carbon sequestration is yet an emerging hot issue and many conclusions are
still in the speculation period, thus it is necessary to focus on the potential
mechanism and the scale and scope of such impact, especially in the deep sea
and seabed sediment environment.
References
1. Xue W, Huang D, Zeng G, Wan J, Zhang C, Rui X, Cheng M (2017) Nanoscale zero-valent
iron coated with rhamnolipid as an effective stabilizer for immobilization of Cd and Pb in
river sediments. J Hazard Mater 341:381–389
2. PlasticEurope (2019) An analysis of European plastics production, demand and waste data
3. Lebreton L, Van der Zwet J, Damsteeg J-W, Slat B, Andrady AL, Reisser J (2017) River
plastic emissions to the world’s oceans. Nat Commun 8:15611
4. Thompson RC (2004) Lost at sea: where is all the plastic?. Sci 304(5672):838