Distribution and ecological risks of microplastics in a tropical tourism island area in Hainan, China

Weijie BIAN; Rui SUN; Yurui LI; Shuguo LÜ; Dongwei YANG; Hongbo LI; Yingxu ZENG; Min LIU

doi:10.1007/s00343-024-4027-7

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Distribution and ecological risks of microplastics in a tropical tourism island area in Hainan, China

Micro- and nano-plastics in marine environments | Updated：2025-03-21

- Distribution and ecological risks of microplastics in a tropical tourism island area in Hainan, China
- Journal of Oceanology and Limnology Vol. 43, Issue 2, Pages: 433-445(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Yazhou Bay Innovation Institute/Key Laboratory for Coastal Marine Eco-environment Process and Carbon Sink of Hainan Province/Modern Marine Ranching Engineering Research Center of Hainan/College of Ecology and Environment, Hainan Tropical Ocean University, Sanya 572022, China
  2.Hainan Academy of Environmental Science, Haikou 571126, China
  3.Key Laboratory of Island Tourism Resource Data Mining and Monitoring, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Hainan Tropical Ocean University, Sanya 572022, China
  4.National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, Dalian 116023, China
- Author bio：
  
  minliu@hntou.edu.cn
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s00343-024-4027-7
  CLC：
- Received：24 January 2024，
  
  Online First：15 July 2024，
  
  Published：01 March 2025
- Accepted：
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BIAN Weijie,SUN Rui,LI Yurui,et al.Distribution and ecological risks of microplastics in a tropical tourism island area in Hainan, China[J].Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2025,43(02):433-445.
DOI：

BIAN Weijie,SUN Rui,LI Yurui,et al.Distribution and ecological risks of microplastics in a tropical tourism island area in Hainan, China[J].Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2025,43(02):433-445. DOI： 10.1007/s00343-024-4027-7.

摘要

Abstract

Microplastics are a widely distributed pollutant that threatens the growth and health of marine organisms. Compared to the mainland

island ecosystems with unique characteristics are fragile and sensitive to natural and human interference. We investigated the characteristics and ecological risks of microplastics in the soils of Wuzhizhou Island

Hainan

China

and its surrounding nearshore sediments affected by human activities. Results show that the microplastic abundance in soil was 1 116.67 items/kg; the particles were fragmented in size of less than 2 mm

the main polymer types were polypropylene (PP)

polyethylene (PE)

and polybutylene (PB)

in transparent

gray

green

or white. The microplastic abundances in nearshore sediments of Wuzhizhou Island and the surrounding Haitang Bay were 274.67 and 755.17 items/kg

respectively; the particles were mainly fibrous

less than 1 mm in size

the main polymer types were rayon and polyethylene terephthalate (PET)

mostly transparent. The abundance of microplastics showed a decreasing trend from shore to sea. Microplastics in the supratidal and intertidal zones differed in mainly the abundance and size. The microplastics in land soil were from tourism activities and infrastructure while the those in nearshore sediments came from not only tourism but also domestic sewage and fishing activities. The ecological risk of microplastics in the terrestrial soils of Wuzhizhou Island was higher than that in its surrounding nearshore sediments. These findings help to gain a deeper understanding of microplastic pollution in the island subjected to intensive human activities

and provide a scientific basis for subsequent in-situ toxicology research on microplastics and plastic pollution control.

关键词

Keywords

references

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