scholarly journals Microplastic pollution in seawater and marine organisms across the Tropical Eastern Pacific and Galápagos

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alonzo Alfaro-Núñez ◽  
Diana Astorga ◽  
Lenin Cáceres-Farías ◽  
Lisandra Bastidas ◽  
Cynthia Soto Villegas ◽  
...  

AbstractDetection of plastic debris degrading into micro particles across all oceanic environments and inside of marine organisms is no longer surprising news. Microplastic contamination now appears as one of the world’s environmental main concerns. To determine the levels of microplastic pollution at sea, water samples were collected across a 4000 km-trajectory in the Tropical Eastern Pacific and the Galápagos archipelago, covering an area of 453,000 square kilometres. Furthermore, 240 specimens of 16 different species of fish, squid, and shrimp, all of human consumption, were collected along the continental coast. Microplastic particles were found in 100% of the water samples and marine organisms. Microplastic particles ranging from 150 to 500 µm in size were the most predominant. This is one of the first reports simultaneously detecting and quantifying microplastic particles abundance and their impact on marine organisms of this region.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alonzo Alfaro-Núñez ◽  
Diana Astorga ◽  
Lenin Cáceres-Farías ◽  
Lisandra Bastidas ◽  
Cynthia Soto Villegas ◽  
...  

Abstract It is not surprising anymore the detection of plastic debris degrading into micro and nanoplastics across all oceanic environments and in marine organisms, which now appears as one of the world’s main concerns. To determine the levels of microplastic pollution at sea, water samples were collected across a 4000 km-trajectory in the Tropical Eastern Pacific and the Galápagos archipelago, covering an area of 453,000 square kilometres. Furthermore, 240 specimens of 16 different species of fish, squid, and shrimp, all of human consumption, were collected along the continental coast. Microplastic particles were found in 100% of the water samples and marine organisms. Microplastic particles from 150 – 500 µm were the most predominant. This is one of the first reports simultaneously detecting and quantifying microplastic particles abundance in the Eastern Tropical Pacific region, the Galápagos archipelago and inside marine organisms.


Zootaxa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4975 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-158
Author(s):  
EDGAR ADRIÁN ACEVEDO-ÁLVAREZ ◽  
GORGONIO RUIZ-CAMPOS ◽  
OMAR DOMÍNGUEZ-DOMÍNGUEZ

The family Haemulidae is a wide-ranging group of marine fishes that are of significant commercial value in the Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP). Phylogenetic studies on the species Anisotremus interruptus have revealed high levels of genetic diversity as well as divergence among populations in the TEP, which suggests that the taxonomic diversity of A. interruptus could be underestimated. Anisotremus interruptus has a large distribution, ranging from central Baja California, Mexico to northern Peru, including all oceanic islands except Clipperton. Recent genetic studies on this taxon indicate the presence of a species complex of at least three distinctive lineages. We performed a comparative study of the population-level meristic and morphometric variation of A. interruptus in the TEP to evaluate and identify possible morphological features concordant with the genetic differentiation of populations. Our results provide evidence of the presence of two new species of the genus Anisotremus, A. perezponcedeleoni sp. n. from the Revillagigedo Archipelago and A. espinozai sp.n. from Galapagos Archipelago-Cocos Island. 


Check List ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 1609-1614
Author(s):  
D. Ross Robertson ◽  
Allison L. Morgan-Estapé ◽  
Carlos J. Estapé

The reef-fish fauna of the Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) includes 12 species of surgeonfishes (Acanthuridae), five of them in the genus Acanthurus. Recent recreational scuba diving at Isla Darwin in the Galapagos archipelago produced photographs of adults of an additional species of Acanthurus, A. mata (Cuvier, 1829), for which there are no previous records in the TEP. This species may have escaped previous notice due to its semi-pelagic habitat preference and its resemblance to Acanthurus xanthopterus Valenciennes, 1835, which occurs throughout much of the Galapagos.


Author(s):  
Natalia Andrulionis ◽  
Natalia Andrulionis ◽  
Ivan Zavialov ◽  
Ivan Zavialov ◽  
Elena Kovaleva ◽  
...  

This article presents a new method of laboratory density determination and construction equations of state for marine waters with various ionic compositions and salinities was developed. The validation of the method was performed using the Ocean Standard Seawater and the UNESCO thermodynamic equation of state (EOS-80). Density measurements of water samples from the Aral Sea, the Black Sea and the Issyk-Kul Lake were performed using a high-precision laboratory density meter. The obtained results were compared with the density values calculated for the considered water samples by the EOS-80 equation. It was shown that difference in ionic composition between Standard Seawater and the considered water bodies results in significant inaccuracies in determination of water density using the EOS-80 equation. Basing on the laboratory measurements of density under various salinity and temperature values we constructed a new equation of state for the Aral Sea and the Black Sea water samples and estimated errors for their coefficients.


1993 ◽  
Vol 27 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 31-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Martinez-Manzanares ◽  
M. A. Moriñigo ◽  
D. Castro ◽  
M. C. Balebona ◽  
J. J. Borrego

The objective of this study is to compare different microbiological criteria based on the control of shellfish-growing waters and shellfish flesh, to assess the microbiological quality of the shellfish harvested in a marine zone affected by discharges of a moderately polluted river. Two species of shellfish grown in Mediterranean countries, cockles (Cardium edule) and striped venus (Chamelea gallina) were chosen to carry out this study. A total of 55 samples of diellfish and sea water were collected over the four seasons of the year. According to the results obtained, the US, EEC and Spanish criteria, based on the level of faecal coliforms in shellfish flesh, guaranteed appropriately their safety for human consumption, but among the criteria based on the level of Escherichia coli, only the Australian criterion has been shown to be totally safe, this microorganism being the best indicator of the presence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Salmonella. For the criteria based on the analysis of indicators in seawater, the indicators which relate to the age of faecal pollution, such as spores of clostridium sulfite reducer and faecal streptococci are the best indexes of the presence of pathogens in shellfish. Furthermore, criteria that establish the percentage of water samples that fulfill the microbiological level specified, or log-normal distributions of indicators such as total coliforms, faecal coliforms and E. coli, are better than mean counts.


Radiocarbon ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 684-692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgette Delibrias

14C measurements were carried out on sea water samples collected in 1973, in the Indian ocean. The results obtained for 9 vertical profiles between 27° S and 48°S are presented. In surface water, the bomb 14C content is maximum at middle latitudes. A time lag relative to the north hemisphere bomb 14C delivery is apparent. In the more southern latitudes, 14C content remains very low.


1959 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 435-472 ◽  
Author(s):  

1. Bacteriological surveys of more than forty popular bathing beaches around the coasts of England and Wales have been made during the past 5 years. The great majority of the beaches studied were subject to contamination with sewage.2. A rough grading of the beaches studied gave a similar ranking order whether the results of the presumptive coliform test or faecal coli counts were used as the basis of grading.3. Grading of beaches was valid only when surveys were carefully planned to ensure representative sampling from the areas on the beaches concerned where bathing actually took place.4. The coliform test as used in the bacteriological examination of drinking waters was the main test procedure used but had certain limitations. Promising results with plate counts on relatively non-inhibitory media were obtained.5. Various salmonella serotypes, notablySalm. paratyphi B, were isolated in small numbers from a high proportion of sea-water samples. The proportion of positive results for salmonella isolation increased from 13·3% in samples with less than 1000 coliform organisms per 100 ml. to 40·1% in samples with over 10,000 coliforms per 100 ml. Comparison of the numbers of salmonellae isolated with what is known of the minimum infective doses of these organisms suggested that very large volumes of sea water would require to be ingested for infection to occur.6. Poliovirus was not isolated from a small series of sea-water samples examined. Because of the very large dilution factor, special concentration procedures would probably be required to isolate this virus from sea water.7. Four cases of paratyphoid fever probably due to bathing were recorded. Surveys of the two associated beaches had given median presumptive coliform counts of more than 10,000 per 100 ml., and both showed gross macroscopic pollution with sewage.8. A statistically controlled study of the bathing histories of 150 poliomyelitis cases in children living permanently by the seaside gave no evidence that bathing had played any part in causing the disease.


2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (9) ◽  
pp. 4732-4738 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kara Lavender Law ◽  
Skye E. Morét-Ferguson ◽  
Deborah S. Goodwin ◽  
Erik R. Zettler ◽  
Emelia DeForce ◽  
...  

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