Over het archief
Het OWA, het open archief van het Waterbouwkundig Laboratorium heeft tot doel alle vrij toegankelijke onderzoeksresultaten van dit instituut in digitale vorm aan te bieden. Op die manier wil het de zichtbaarheid, verspreiding en gebruik van deze onderzoeksresultaten, alsook de wetenschappelijke communicatie maximaal bevorderen.
Dit archief wordt uitgebouwd en beheerd volgens de principes van de Open Access Movement, en het daaruit ontstane Open Archives Initiative.
Basisinformatie over ‘Open Access to scholarly information'.
SEM/EDX analysis of stomach contents of a sea slug snacking on a polluted seafloor reveal microplastics as a component of its diet
Furfaro, G.; D’Elia, M.; Mariano, S.; Trainito, E.; Solca, M.; Piraino, S.; Belmonte, G. (2022). SEM/EDX analysis of stomach contents of a sea slug snacking on a polluted seafloor reveal microplastics as a component of its diet. NPG Scientific Reports 12(1): 10244. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-14299-3
In: Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group). Nature Publishing Group: London. ISSN 2045-2322; e-ISSN 2045-2322, meer
|   |
| Trefwoorden |
Bursatella leachii Blainville, 1817 [WoRMS]
Marien/Kust |
| Auteurs | | Top |
- Furfaro, G.
- D’Elia, M.
- Mariano, S.
- Trainito, E.
|
- Solca, M.
- Piraino, S., meer
- Belmonte, G., meer
|
|
| Abstract |
Understanding the impacts of microplastics on living organisms in aquatic habitats is one of the hottest research topics worldwide. Despite increased attention, investigating microplastics in underwater environments remains a problematic task, due to the ubiquitous occurrence of microplastic, its multiple modes of interactions with the biota, and to the diversity of the synthetic organic polymers composing microplastics in the field. Several studies on microplastics focused on marine invertebrates, but to date, the benthic sea slugs (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Heterobranchia) were not yet investigated. Sea slugs are known to live on the organisms on which they feed on or to snack while gliding over the sea floor, but also as users of exogenous molecules or materials not only for nutrition. Therefore, they may represent a potential biological model to explore new modes of transformation and/or management of plastic, so far considered to be a non-biodegradable polymer. In this study we analysed the stomachal content of Bursatella leachii, an aplysiid heterobranch living in the Mar Piccolo, a highly polluted coastal basin near Taranto, in the northern part of the Ionian Sea. Microplastics were found in the stomachs of all the six sampled specimens, and SEM/EDX analyses were carried out to characterize the plastic debris. The SEM images and EDX spectra gathered here should be regarded as a baseline reference database for future investigations on marine Heterobranchia and their interactions with microplastics. |
IMIS is ontwikkeld en wordt gehost door het VLIZ.
