| Title | Microplastics and their possible sources: The example of Ofanto river in southeast Italy |
| Abstract | Monitoring studies have quantified microscopic plastic debris, so-called microplastics, in freshwater
systems, including banks, surface waters and sediments. However, there is a lack of knowledge of
freshwater and terrestrial environments.
When microplastics are released in freshwater environments, they will be transported and will not
remain stationary. Moreover, their transport from sink to source (land-based to river systems) may
depend on several factors such as weather conditions and river hydrology.
The present study aims to investigate the abundance and composition of microplastics in the most
important river of Apulia Region (Southeast Italy) evaluating the main drivers and possible input sources
of microplastic debris. The following work is the first study showing an Italian river context. For this
research five sampling campaigns have been conducted west of the Ofanto river mouth. Microplastics
were collected by three surface plankton nets fixed in the middle of the river in order to reduce the
spatial and temporal variability. For each campaign, a total of six replicates were sampled during two
time slots.
Microplastic concentrations ranged from 0.9 ± 0.4 p/m3 to 13 ± 5 p/m3 showing comparable values to
or greater than those ones reported in other studies. A statistically significant difference in the average
microplastic concentrations in different campaigns of this study has been observed, suggesting thus a
temporal variation in plastic abundances. These significant differences could be explained by the hydrology
of the river that influences the particle concentration with its physical forces such as flow velocity,
water level and seasonal variability. Microplastics were found at higher concentrations during wet
periods indicating a land-based origin probably connected to waste produced by the surroundings
agricultural areas. In fact, Spearman's correlation results show a strong positive statistically significant
correlation between the concentration of microplastics and the water level (R ¼ 0.8475, p < 0.0001). |
| Source | Environmental pollution (1987) |
| Keywords | MicroplasticsWater samplesOfanto riverItalyMonitoringAgriculture |
| Journal | Environmental pollution (1987) |
| Editor | Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, Barking, Regno Unito |
| Year | 2019 |
| Type | Articolo in rivista |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.113284 |
| Authors | Claudia Campanale, Friederike Stock, Carmine Massarelli, Christian Kochleus, Giuseppe Bagnuolo, Georg Reifferscheid, Vito Felice Uricchio |
| Text | 416432 2019 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.113284 Microplastics Water samples Ofanto river Italy Monitoring Agriculture Microplastics and their possible sources The example of Ofanto river in southeast Italy Claudia Campanale, Friederike Stock, Carmine Massarelli, Christian Kochleus, Giuseppe Bagnuolo, Georg Reifferscheid, Vito Felice Uricchio Water Research Institute Italian National Research Council, Italy Department of Biochemistry, and Ecotoxicology, German Federal Institute of Hydrology, Koblenz, Germany Monitoring studies have quantified microscopic plastic debris, so called microplastics, in freshwater systems, including banks, surface waters and sediments. However, there is a lack of knowledge of freshwater and terrestrial environments. When microplastics are released in freshwater environments, they will be transported and will not remain stationary. Moreover, their transport from sink to source land based to river systems may depend on several factors such as weather conditions and river hydrology. The present study aims to investigate the abundance and composition of microplastics in the most important river of Apulia Region Southeast Italy evaluating the main drivers and possible input sources of microplastic debris. The following work is the first study showing an Italian river context. For this research five sampling campaigns have been conducted west of the Ofanto river mouth. Microplastics were collected by three surface plankton nets fixed in the middle of the river in order to reduce the spatial and temporal variability. For each campaign, a total of six replicates were sampled during two time slots. Microplastic concentrations ranged from 0.9 ± 0.4 p/m3 to 13 ± 5 p/m3 showing comparable values to or greater than those ones reported in other studies. A statistically significant difference in the average microplastic concentrations in different campaigns of this study has been observed, suggesting thus a temporal variation in plastic abundances. These significant differences could be explained by the hydrology of the river that influences the particle concentration with its physical forces such as flow velocity, water level and seasonal variability. Microplastics were found at higher concentrations during wet periods indicating a land based origin probably connected to waste produced by the surroundings agricultural areas. In fact, Spearman s correlation results show a strong positive statistically significant correlation between the concentration of microplastics and the water level R ¼ 0.8475, p < 0.0001 . Preprint Campanale et al., 2019 Campanale et al., 2019.pdf Articolo in rivista Elsevier Applied Science Publishers 0269 7491 Environmental pollution 1987 Environmental pollution 1987 Environ. pollut. 1987 Environmental pollution 1987 claudiacampanale CAMPANALE CLAUDIA vitofelice.uricchio URICCHIO VITO FELICE carmine.massarelli MASSARELLI CARMINE giuseppe.bagnuolo BAGNUOLO GIUSEPPE |
