Organic micropollutants in marine plastics and their transfer to marine organisms

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23310046
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Risk sciences of radiation/Chemicals
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
• Principal Investigator: TAKADA Hideshige 東京農工大学, (連合)農学研究科(研究院), 教授 (70187970)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): WATANUKI Yutaka 北海道大学, 水産研究所, 教授 (40192819)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 海洋プラスチック汚染 / 海洋汚染 / マイクロプラスチック / POPs / 添加剤 / 海鳥 / 溶出実験 / インターナショナルペレットウォッチ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Plastic debris in marine environments contain various organic contaminants with concentration range from 1 ng/g to 10000 ng/g. They are derived from additives compounded into the original plastic products or sorption from surrounding seawater. Our investigation on oceanic birds demonstrated that some of the organic contaminants in the ingested plastics are transferred to the tissue of seabirds which ingest the plastics. Facilitated leaching of additive-derived chemicals from plastic by stomach oil was proved to be a key process on the transfer of the chemicals from ingested plastics to the internal system of the organisms. Magnitude of the plastic-mediated transfer of chemicals to marine biota should be further studied.

Free Research Field

環境化学