Author(s): Kouki Kudou, Tomoya Kataoka, Yasuo Nihei, Hirofumi Hinata
Linked Author(s): Tomoya Kataoka
Keywords: Microplastics, riverine litter, marine debris, plastic pollution, particle count density
Abstract: Microplastics (MPs) are a major concern in the ocean environment worldwide. Microplastics influence not only the water environment, but also the ecosystem because, due to their small size, microplastics can easily end up in the mouth of aquatic organisms. There has been many researches on, and many surveys of, MPs in the ocean, but there has been few researches on MPs in rivers around the world. As the first step in research on MPs in rivers, in the present study, we considered the fundamental methodology of an MPs survey. Then, we investigated the distribution of MPs in 21 locations on 18 Japanese rivers. We found that the particle count density of MPs in the rivers was one order of magnitude lower than that in the sea near Japan. The methodological problem of contamination of our survey results due to plastics in the materials is also discussed
Year: 2017