JPI Oceans - Mikroplast - EPHEMARE - UiO - ECOTOXICOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF MICROPLASTICS IN MARINE ECOSYSTEMS

The overarching aim for the JPI-Oceans project EPHEMARE was to describe uptake, accumulation and effects of microplastics and contaminants associated with microplastics (MPs) in both pelagic and benthic marine organisms. The project had 16 partners from 10 countries and had a focus on the most common MP in the oceans, i.e. LDPE, but also included PET, PP and PVC. Microplastics are expected to accumulate in sediments and this sub-project had a main focus on effects of LDPE on sediment-dwelling organisms. Laboratory exposure experiments were performed with environmentally relevant bivalve species, i.e. the surface deposit-feeding Abra and subsurface deposit-feeding Ennucula. The results show that environmentally relevant concentrations of microplastics affect the metabolism of Abra and Ennucula. A field study in the inner Oslofjord has also been performed. All species sampled in the inner Oslofjord had microplastics in their gut and/or tissues, and the prevalence varied from 5 to 60%.

En forståelse av at de konsentrasjonene som finnes av mikroplast i forurenset sediment i dag faktisk kan påvirke organismene som lever der. Dette betyr at det haster med å redusere tilførslene.

Plastics, synthetic polymers virtually unknown prior to their broad commercialization in the 1950s, are ubiquitous in the environment, and their global production continues to rise. They are not biodegradable, but undergo weathering that renders their fragments more fragile, and combined to hydrodynamics produce increasingly small particles termed microplastics (MPs), readily taken up by suspension and sediment feeders, and incorporated into trophic webs. MPs can concentrate hydrophobic chemicals, persistent pollutants (PPs), found in low concentrations in seawater. EPHEMARE targets (1) the uptake, tissue distribution, final fate and effects of MPs in organisms representative of pelagic and benthic ecosystems, and (2) the potential role of MPs as vectors of model PPs that readily adsorb to their surfaces. The consortium, of true trans-European composition (16 partners from 10 countries), includes experts in biological effects of marine pollutants at molecular, cellular, physiological and organismic levels, up to-date singular facilities for aquatic toxicity testing under strict QA/QC conditions, and some of the world leading teams in MPs research. The EPHEMARE multidisciplinary consortium will allow identification of operational biomarkers with potential for MP detection in the environment. The composition and capacities of the partnership allow in-depth studies on fundamental mechanisms underlying these effects. The main focus of the current sub-project is sediment-dwelling organisms, including laboratory and field studies. In addition, a field survey will be performed to compare the situation in the Skagerrak with other coastal areas in Europe (including the Mediterranean).