Marine Environmental Research 113 (2016) 7e17

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Marine Environmental Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marenvrev

Review

The behaviors of microplastics in the marine environment

Jundong Wang a, Zhi Tan b, Jinping Peng a, *, Qiongxuan Qiu a, Meimin Li b
a
Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Light Industry, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 51006, China
b
Dongguan Environmental Monitoring Central Station, Dongguan 523009, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Despite the pollution of microplastics being internationally recognized, the understanding of their be-
Received 24 July 2015 haviors in marine environment is still developing. Microplastics are ubiquitous in the marine environ-
Received in revised form ment, with the potential to cause harm to marine ecosystem. Here, we would classify the behaviors of
21 October 2015
microplastics as physical behaviors (i.e. migration, sedimentation and accumulation), chemical behaviors
Accepted 29 October 2015
Available online 8 November 2015
(i.e. degradation and adsorption) and biobehaviors (i.e. ingestion, translocation and biodegradation), and
a further discussion on their behavioral mechanisms were presented to better understand their impacts
for the marine environment.
Keywords:
Microplastics
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Behavior
Mechanism
Impacts
Marine environment

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2. Physical behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.1. Migration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2. Sedimentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3. Accumulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3.1. Temporal accumulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3.2. Spatial accumulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.4. The impacts of physical behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3. Chemical behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.1. Degradation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.2. Adsorption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2.1. Adsorption of organic pollutants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2.2. Adsorption of metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4. Biobehaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.1. Ingestion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.2. Translocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.3. Biodegradation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.4. The impacts of biobehaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.4.1. Mechanical effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.4.2. Leaching of chemical ingredients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.4.3. Release of sorbed pollutants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5. Conclusions and recommendations for future work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: Jppeng@gdut.edu.cn (J. Peng).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2015.10.014
0141-1136/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
8 J. Wang et al. / Marine Environmental Research 113 (2016) 7e17
1. Introduction
Due to their inexpensive, lightweight and durable properties,
plastics hold a highly prevalent place in contemporary society
(Thompson et al., 2009), with extensive commercial, industrial,
medicinal and municipal applications. However, waste plastics
have been contaminating the environment because most of them
are used in single-use applications such as plastic bags with low-
value recovery and difculty to degrade.
Though the occurrence of plastic debris in the marine environ-
ment rst reported in 1970s (Carpenter and Smith, 1972; Morris
and Hamilton, 1974; Wong et al., 1974), they had got little public
notice. With the global production continuous growth of plastics,
the quantities of plastic debris accumulated in marine environment
are increasing. Within just a few decades, plastic debris has accu-
mulated in terrestrial environments, in the open ocean, even in the
most remote islands and in the deep sea (Galgani et al., 1995, 1996;
Goldberg, 1997; Van Cauwenberghe et al., 2013; Woodall et al.,
2014). As a growing global problem posing a threat to marine or-
ganisms, plastic pollutant has attracted great attention. According
to two reports (UNEP Year Book 2014, and Valuing Plastic) released
on the opening day of the rst United Nations Environment As-
sembly, concern is growing over the threat that widespread plastic
waste poses to marine life, with conservative estimates of the
overall nancial damage of plastics to marine ecosystems standing
at $13 billion each year (Nairobi, 2014).
Microplastics (less than 5 mm was commonly dened) pollu-
tion, identied as an important emerging threat by a horizon scan
of global conservation issues for 2010 (Sutherland et al., 2010), has
been particularly concerned in recent years because of their prev-
alence in the ocean and potential ingestion by marine organisms
(Andrady, 2011). Occurrence and distribution of microplastics to
the global marine environment include both primary sources
(derived from hand and facial cleansers, cosmetic preparations,
scrubbers in air-blasting, and production waste from plastic pro-
cessing plants) and secondary sources (derived from fragmentation
of larger plastics as a result of physical and chemical effects) (Zitko
and Hanlon, 1991; Gregory, 1996; Barnes et al., 2009).
Notably, environmental contaminants such as polychlorinated
biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), petroleum
hydrocarbons, organochlorine pesticides, polybrominated diphe-
nylethers, alkylphenols, bisphenol A, and metals have been found
to be sorbed onto microplastics (Rios et al., 2007; Teuten et al.,
2007, 2009; Ashton et al., 2010; Bakir et al., 2012; Fisner et al.,
2013). Microplastics are most likely to be ingested by marine or-
ganisms and potentially transferred to higher-trophic-level or-
ganisms through the food chain (Andrady, 2011), and thus the toxic
pollutants would potentially do harm to the marine organism and
even human through bioaccumulation and biomagnication. Here,
the objective of this review is to classify the behaviors of micro-
plastics and discuss their behavioral mechanisms, so as to better
understand their impacts for the marine environment.
2. Physical behaviors
2.1. Migration
Drifter buoys and physical oceanographic models have shown
that plastic pollution could be quickly migrated from U.S. eastern
seaboard to North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre in less than 60 days (Law
et al., 2010). Indeed, once entering the ocean, plastic debris will start
migrating to other sites. Most of the synthetic polymers, such as
polyethylene and polypropylene, are buoyant and could be trans-
ported in seawater (shown in Table 1) (Andrady, 2011; Plastics
Europe, 2014). The polymers that are denser than seawater (e.g.,
PVC) can still be transported by underlying currents (Engler, 2012).
An ocean current refers to continuous, directed movement of
seawater generated by the forces acting upon the water such as the
Coriolis effect, the wind, the temperature and salinity differences
and the gravitation of the moon. Besides, plastic debris could be
transported by ocean current, wind, tide and tsunami in the oceans.
Collignon et al. (2012) observed that concentrations of neustonic
plastic particles were 5 times higher before than after a strong wind
event in the North Western Mediterranean, for the strong wind could
increase the mixing and the vertical redistribution of the plastic
particles in the upper layers of the water column. Kukulka et al.
(2012) found an inverse relationship between wind speed and con-
centration of plastic particles on the sea surface in the North Atlantic
Subtropical Gyre. In addition, tides (Sadri and Thompson, 2014) and
tsunamis could enhance the migration as well. Tsunami debris
models (Desforges et al., 2014) predict that buoyant debris would
reach the North-American coastline during the winter of 2011e2012.
Admittedly, sightings of tsunami debris continue to be reported.
2.2. Sedimentation
The density of oating plastic debris may increase during their
residence in the marine environment. Elemental analysis of plastic
samples from the ocean revealed the presence of nitrogen (More
t-
Ferguson et al., 2010), which is absent in virgin polyethylene and
polypropylene and offers an indication of biofouling. By Biofouling,
plastic debris would reach seawater density and enter the water

zar et al.,
column as neutrally drifting or slowly sinking particles (Co
2014), which may result in sedimentation. As reported by Lobelle
and Cunliffe (2011), microbial biolms early developed on marine
plastic debris in seawater, and plastic would become less hydro-
phobic and more neutrally buoyant so as to sink below the sea
surface. Moreover, Collignon et al. (2014) found approximately 22%
of the plastic particles were fouled by epiphytes and this percent-
age was higher during summer (in August to September). Typically,
the density of seawater increase with depth. Therefore, neutrally
drifting or slowly sinking plastic debris would remain suspended at
a certain depth in which density is equal to that of plastic debris.
Field experiments, however, have shown that biofouled plastic
debris would undergo a rapid defouling when submerged and thus
a potential return to water surface occurs (Ye and Andrady, 1991).
2.3. Accumulation
2.3.1. Temporal accumulation
With continuous growth for more than 50 years, global pro-
duction in 2013 rose to 299 million tons, meaning a 3.9% increase
compared to 2012 (Plastics Europe, 2014) (shown in Fig. 1). In
contrast, the plastic production in Europe stabilized in 2013 after
the 2009 turn-down and actual levels are similar to those in 2002
(shown in Fig. 1). In general, the plastic waste is consigned to
landlls. However, large amounts end up as marine debris as a
result of insufcient treatment capacity, accidental inputs, littering,
illegal dumping and coastal human activities (Hopewell et al.,
2009). While a calculated 275 million metric tons of plastic waste
generated in 192 coastal countries in 2010, 4.8e12.7 million metric
tons of that entered the ocean (Jambeck et al., 2015). Of great
concern is the quantity of accumulating plastic waste available to
enter the ocean from land, and it is predicted to increase by an
order of magnitude by 2025 without waste management infra-
structure improvements (Jambeck et al., 2015). Since 1990, the
dumping of rubbish at sea from ships has been prohibited under
the international shipping regulation MARPOL Annex V and thus a
reduction of plastic debris derived from ships should be expected
(Barnes et al., 2009).
 J. Wang et al. / Marine Environmental Research 113 (2016) 7e17 9

Table 1
Different plastics for different needs (Andrady, 2011; Plastics Europe, 2014).

Classications Abbreviation Density Products Recycling

(g L
1) Symbols

Polyester PET 1.37 Soft drink, water, juice, and beer bottles

High-density HDPE 0.94 Milk jugs, juice bottles; bleach, detergent and household cleaner bottles; butter and yogurt containers
polyethylene

Polyvinyl chloride PVC 1.38 Window cleaner and detergent bottles, shampoo bottles, cooking oil bottles, clear food packaging,
medical equipment, boots

Low-density LDPE 0.91e0.93 Plastic bags, six-pack rings, netting, drinking straws, wire cables
polyethylene

Polypropylene PP 0.85e0.93 Rope, bottle caps, netting, car bumpers, owerpot, folders

polystyrene PS 1.05 Disposable plates and cups, meat trays, egg cartons, carry-out containers, aspirin bottles

Others DVDs, sunglasses, iPod and computer cases, signs and displays, nylon, baby bottles, bullet-proof
materials

It is estimated that plastic debris accounts for 60e80% of marine
litter, reaching 90e95% in some areas (Moore, 2008). Due to its
durable properties, the longevity of plastic is estimated to be
hundreds to thousands of years (Barnes et al., 2009). Coupled with
the poor rate of recycling and small size, it seems to be certain that
microplastics would inevitably increase in the marine environment
as time goes on.
A study of microplastics among the plankton samples in
seawater from the British Isles to Iceland revealed a statistically
signicant increase in abundance from the 1960se1970s to the
1980se1990s (Thompson et al., 2004). Similarly, Goldstein et al.
(2012) reported a two orders of magnitude increase in both nu-
merical and mass concentrations of microplastics in the North
Pacic Subtropical Gyre between 1972e1987 and 1999e2010. In
contrast, a survey in the surface of the western North Atlantic
Ocean and Caribbean Sea from 1986 to 2008 found no signicant
increase in plastic debris concentration in North Atlantic Subtrop-
ical Gyre, which is a region of highest accumulation (Law et al.,
2010). Law et al. (2014) were also unable to detect a robust tem-
poral trend in surface plastic concentration in the eastern North
and South Pacic Oceans. What's more, Co
zar et al. (2014) esti-
mated a 100-fold discrepancy of the oating plastic weight be-
tween the current load and the released load in the open ocean,
providing strong support to the hypothesis of substantial losses
from the ocean surface. A tremendous loss of microplastics from
the global ocean surface between 2007 and 2013 is also reported
(Eriksen et al., 2014).

2.3.2. Spatial accumulation

350
World production Plastic debris is almost ubiquitous in the global marine envi-
European production ronment, extending from Polar Regions to the equator (Gregory
300 and Ryan, 1997; Barnes et al., 2010; Zar and Matthies, 2010),
from remote shorelines to highly populated coastlines (Derraik,
2002), from the coast far out to sea, and down onto the deep
250
sea (Van Cauwenberghe et al., 2013; Woodall et al., 2014).
Plastic / million tons

Notably, concentrations of microplastics found in Arctic sea ice

200 from remote locations are several orders of magnitude greater
than those that have been reported in highly contaminated
seawater surface, such as those of the Pacic Gyre (Obbard et al.,
150 2014).
Plastic debris has accumulated mainly in the ocean surface
100 because its density is generally less than that of seawater. Moreover,
oceanic circulation models (Lebreton et al., 2012; Maximenko et al.,
2012) predict possible accumulation regions in all ve subtropical
50 ocean gyres associated with the convergence of surface currents,
though high concentrations of oating plastic debris have accu-
mulated in North Atlantic may caused by the most densely coastal
0
2002 2007 2009 2011 2012 2013 population (Co
zar et al., 2014). And results of these models were
Year
further conrmed by the distribution pattern of plastic debris in the
Fig. 1. Plastic production (white bars represent the number of European plastic pro- ocean surface agreed with those predicted (Eriksen et al., 2013;
duction and black bars represent the number of world plastic production). Co
zar et al., 2014; Law et al., 2014).
10 J. Wang et al. / Marine Environmental Research 113 (2016) 7e17
Studies of temporal accumulation of oating plastic debris
described in the above section have shown conicting trends.
Though limited data exist to describe the temporal variability,
mechanisms that remove plastic debris from the ocean surface are
at play. Four possible mechanisms include sedimentation, shore
deposition, nanofragmentation, and ingestion (Thompson et al.,
2004; Law et al., 2010; Co
zar et al., 2014; Eriksen et al., 2014; Law
et al., 2014). Thereamong, sedimentation and shore deposition
may play an important part in temporal variability of microplastics
in the marine environment.
Quite a few studies have shown the accumulation of large plastic
items in the deep sea (Galgani et al., 1995, 1996; Goldberg, 1997;
Van Cauwenberghe et al., 2013; Woodall et al., 2014). Vast quan-
tities of microplastic ber are present in the deep-sea sediments
and about four orders of magnitude greater abundance compared
with heavily contaminated surface water gyres, indicating that
seabed is a likely sink for microplastics (Woodall et al., 2014). For
oating plastic debris, the colonization by microbial communities,
adherence to phytoplankton and aggregation with organic debris
and metals would facilitate sedimentation (Woodall et al., 2014).
And microplastics could reach the seabed as marine snow (Van
Cauwenberghe et al., 2013; Woodall et al., 2014). Furthermore,
some oceanographic processes, including dense shelf water
cascading (Ivanov et al., 2004; Canals et al., 2006), severe coastal
storms (Sanchez-Vidal et al., 2012), offshore convection (Durrieu de
Madron et al., 2013; Stabholz et al., 2013) and saline subduction
(Talley, 2002) could do help to settle microplastics to depth. Sub-
marine topographic features may also enhance downwelling ows
so as to increase the retention of microplastics at depth (Woodall
et al., 2014).
Occurrence of plastic debris along the shoreline of beaches and
islands is well documented (McDermid and McMullen, 2004; do
Sul et al., 2009; Costa et al., 2010; Claessens et al., 2011; Kaberi
et al., 2013; Baztan et al., 2014). Larger plastic items would
readily fragment in beach environments, and these fragments have
been incorporated in coastal sediments around the world (Barnes
et al., 2009). These fragments may remain a long residence time
on beaches due to small size that is seldom removed by cleanup
operations. With time, plastic debris at the water surface would
also be washed ashore and litter coastlines. Similar types of plastic
in the water column as in sedimentary habitats suggesting that
density was not a dominant factor inuencing distribution
(Thompson et al., 2004). The abundance of microplastics varied
among beaches may have a direct relation to beach orientation and
wind regime (Kaberi et al., 2013). Besides, a statistical model for
oating marine debris has shown that shores are prone to the de-
posit of marine debris (Lumpkin et al., 2012). However, limited data
exist to reveal spatial and temporal accumulation of plastic debris
in beach deposition.
Combined with physical abrasion and/or microbial populations
(Zettler et al., 2013), exposure of plastic to solar UV radiation would
result in photodegradation, embrittlement and fragmentation
(Andrady, 2011). Nanofragmentation is bound to occur, although
their abundance has not been quantied in marine environment.
And fragmentation rates of microplastics may be very high due to
lack of mechanical integrity.
A large amount of studies reported that marine organisms ingest
plastic debris. The ingested plastic debris can also be transferred to
higher-trophic-level organisms (Farrell and Nelson, 2013). Nota-
blely, the small mesopelagic sh likely play a relevant role on
ingestion of plastic at millimeter scale (Co
zar et al., 2014), because
they are the most abundant and ubiquitous zooplanktivorous in the
open ocean, and readily migrate to feed in the surface layer from
the depth. The behaviors of oating plastic debris in the oceans are
shown in Fig. 2.
2.4. The impacts of physical behaviors
Plastic debris could concentrate contaminants, including poly-
chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs), organochlorine pesticides, polybrominated diphenylethers,
alkylphenols and bisphenol A, from the surrounding water. Con-
taminants at concentrations from sub ng g
1 to mg g
1 adsorbed
onto plastics showed distinct spatial variations reecting global
pollution patterns (Teuten et al., 2009).
Large amount of microplastics enters the beach sediments, and
even 20,000 to 100,000 pellets per meter of beach in the early
research is reported (Gregory, 1978). Sufcient amount would
change the physical properties (Carson et al., 2011) of beach sedi-
ments (e.g. an increase in the mean grain size and permeability, and
a decrease in the thermal diffusivity), which may affect a variety of
biotas and their eggs, including crustaceans (Penn and Brockmann,
1994), mollusks (D'avila and Bessa, 2005), polychaetes (Di
Domenico et al., 2009), sh (Quinn, 1999), and various interstitial
meiofauna (Albuquerque et al., 2007).
Accumulating plastic debris can create new habitats for organ-
isms, which may have an active effect on their abundance and
diffusion. Studies show that even small plastic particles could be
used as oviposition site by H. micans (Majer et al., 2012; Goldstein
et al., 2012). Plastics debris can also provide new oating substrates
for microbial colonization and transportation (Zettler et al., 2013),
and their presence in aquatic systems could stimulate microbial
productivity and respiration (Zobell and Anderson, 1936; Jannasch
and Pritchard, 1972; Costerton et al., 1987; Fenchel, 1988). At the
same time, the plastic debris would alter preexisting environ-
mental characteristics, like the habitat quality, that are critical
factors of species occurrence (Chisholm et al., 2011). Besides, ma-
rine organisms inhabited on the surface of oating plastic debris
will be transported and act as alien invaders to other species
(Barnes, 2002).
3. Chemical behaviors
3.1. Degradation
Polymer degradation is a change in the properties (e.g. tensile
strength, color, shape) of polymer or polymer-based products un-
der the inuence of environmental factors such as heat, light, and
chemicals. According to the different causes, degradation is usually
been classied as photo-oxidative degradation, thermal degrada-
tion, ozone-induced degradation, mechanochemical degradation,
catalytic degradation and biodegradation (Singh and Sharma,
2008).
A great variety of synthetic polymers could absorb solar UV
radiation and undergo photolytic, photo-oxidative, and thermo-
eoxidative reactions that result in the degradation (Gugumus,
1993; Andrady, 1997). Plastic, such as LDPE, HDPE and PP, will
degrade in the ocean environment (Andrady, 2011). Coupled with
physical abrasion such as wave action and sand grinding, exposure
of plastic to solar UV radiation would result in photodegradation,
embrittlement and fragmentation.
Though plastics own a long environmental life of hundreds to
thousands of years, degradation plays an important part in recy-
cling or reusing these polymers waste to prevent or reduce envi-
ronmental pollution. For most polymers, full conversion of the
breakdown products into carbon dioxide, water and inorganic
molecules by photo-oxidative degradation is extremely slow
(Lithner et al., 2011). Plastics degradation is especially slow in the
marine environment, where degradation primarily is likely to occur
by UV-B radiation in sunlight (Andrady, 2011). Once initiated, the
degradation can also proceed thermooxidatively for some time
 J. Wang et al. / Marine Environmental Research 113 (2016) 7e17
Fig. 2. Behaviors of oating plastic debris in the oceans (The blue arrow represents the adsorption or adherence from surrounding environment; the red arrow represents
behavioral mechanisms that remove plastic debris from the ocean surface; communities refer to microbial populations of heterotrophs, autotrophs, predators and symbionts.). (For
interpretation of the references to colour in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
without the need for further exposure to UV radiation (Andrady,
2011). As long as oxygen is available to the system, the autocata-
lytic degradation reaction sequence could proceed. Studies show
that other types of degradation processes are orders of magnitude
slower compared to light-induced oxidation. Due to the deciency
of the solar UV radiation and the low temperature, however, the
rate of degradation in the marine environment is especially slower
than in the terrestrial environment (Barnes and Milner, 2005; Ryan
et al., 2009).
Besides, presence of additives in plastic products would increase
the tendency of photo-oxidative degradation (Cataldo, 2001;
Andrady et al., 2003). Notably, the polymerisation impurities and
surrounding factors, such as temperature and oxygen, would lead
to different products of degradation with different proportion
(Lithner et al., 2011).
3.2. Adsorption
3.2.1. Adsorption of organic pollutants
Plastics contaminated by persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
are found globally from coastal areas to the remote habitats of the
subtropical gyres (Hirai et al., 2011). Plastic is capable of concen-
trating contaminants, increasing their concentration even up to the
order of 106 (Mato et al., 2001). The organic fraction of soils and
sediments was traditionally considered to be the most important
form of sorbent in the environment, but studies have shown the
importance of plastics in sediments (Mato et al., 2001; Ng and
Obbard, 2006; Rios et al., 2007), accumulating concentrations of
pollutants a hundred times greater than those in sediments (Teuten
et al., 2009).
POPs such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), poly-
chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane
(DDTs), would be absorbed onto microplastic. And reported con-
centrations of persistent organic pollutants in marine plastic pellets
range from 1 to 10,000 ng/g plastic pellet worldwide (Ogata et al.,
2009; Hirai et al., 2011). For polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),
concentrations of 4e980 ng/g plastic pellet (Mato et al., 2001; Rios
et al., 2007) were found worldwide and 169e324 ng/g plastic pellet
(Ogata et al., 2009; Kershaw et al., 2011) in the North Sea.
11
Adsorption is not only a kind of physical behavior but also a kind
of chemical behavior. While the physical adsorption primarily de-
pends on the great specic surface area and Van der Waals' force,
the chemical adsorption mainly dues to greater afnity of organic
pollutants for the hydrophobic surface of plastic compared to
seawater. And the physical and chemical properties of sorbent
including surface area (Teuten et al., 2007), diffusivity (Mato et al.,
2001; Pascall et al., 2005; Karapanagioti and Klontza, 2008), and
crystallinity (Mato et al., 2001; Karapanagioti and Klontza, 2008)
inuence the sorption of chemicals. For example, polyethylene has
a larger surface area than polypropylene and polyvinylchloride
(Teuten et al., 2007) and an afnity for a wide range of organic
pollutants varying in hydrophobicity.
Organic polymers in the environment generally contain crys-
talline and amorphous regions. While regularly arranged in lattices
of crystalline region, molecules are randomly arranged the amor-
phous region. Thus the amorphous region exhibits a loose and
exible structure, which is more similar to liquid. And the Sorption
of organic pollutants generally occurs in the amorphous region,
which is characterized on the basis of its internal structure as either
glassy or rubbery (Teuten et al., 2009). That is to say, organic
polymers can be imagined a mixture of glassy and rubbery poly-
mers. The glassy segments show higher cohesive forces and are
more condensed, whereas the rubbery segments exhibit greater
mobility and exibility and can act as a dynamic viscous liquid.
Certainly, the properties of sorbates also inuence the sorption,
such as the uptake of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners to
polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride decreased as the chlorine
numbers in the congeners increased (Pascall et al., 2005).
In addition, various factors, including difference in weathering
and residence time in the marine environment and the foulants
attached to the plastic debris, are signicantly associated with the
adsorption. In fact, weathered pellets may increase their adsorption
capacity (Endo et al., 2005; Ogata et al., 2009). Little is known about
the effect of weathering of plastics on the sorption of contaminants.
Mato et al. (2001) supposed three potential reasons for eroded
plastics to exhibit different distribution behavior than the virgin
plastics. To begin with, the increase in surface area due to polymer
weathering would increase the effective diffusivity. Photo-
12 J. Wang et al. / Marine Environmental Research 113 (2016) 7e17
oxidation is known to greatly modify plastic surfaces. Photo-
oxidation develops cross-linking, chain scissions, oxygen-
containing moieties such as carbonyl groups in PE polymers, and
ultimately leads to visible cracking on the surface (Severini et al.,
1987; Satoto et al., 1997). Secondly, while an increase in the sur-
face area due to ne cracks could enhance sorption, an increasing
polarity by the reaction with oxygen could decrease afnity for
hydrophobic compounds (Endo et al., 2005). Besides, weathered
plastic debris can be thought to have had a long residence time in
the marine environment and thus might have sorbed larger
amounts, for the reach equilibrium time is expected to require
months to years (Mato et al., 2002; Lohmann, 2011). Last but not
least are the foulants attached to the plastic debris, including di-
atoms, hydroids, lamentous algae and tarry residues (Endo et al.,
2005), due to additional sorbents for hydrophobic contaminants.
When fouled with life (Zettler et al., 2013), an increase in the sur-
face area and changes in the surface properties, allowing concen-
trations of chemical contaminants to increase over time via
sorption and/or bioaccumulation by biolms.
As is known, a chemical gradient acts as a vector pointing in the
direction of adsorption behavior. Consequently, adsorption of pol-
lutants to microplastics in oranisms may occur, if such a driving
gradient existed. That means microplastics ingestion would lead to
cleaning of the pollutants in organisms (Koelmans, 2015).
3.2.2. Adsorption of metals
The presence of metals on plastic debris has rarely been docu-
mented, mainly because of a common understanding that plastics
are relatively inert towards aqueous metals. Uptake of Ag, Cd, Co, Cr,
Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Zn, Al, Mn, Fe, Mo, Sb, Sn and U by plastics have been
recently reported (Ashton et al., 2010; Holmes et al., 2012; Tien and
Chen, 2013; Rochman et al., 2014; Turner and Holmes, 2015). In fact,
loss of metal to plastic containers from water samples has been
previously found during the incubations (Robertson, 1968; Giusti
et al., 1994; Weijuan et al., 2001; Cobelo-Garcia et al., 2007;
Fischer et al., 2007).
However, little is known about mechanisms of metal uptake.
Ashton et al. (2010) suggest mechanisms relate to direct adsorption
of cations or complexes onto charged sites or neutral regions of the
surface of the plastic, and co-precipitation with or adsorption onto
hydrous oxides. Holmes et al. (2012) assume adsorption of metals
probably proceeds through interactions between bivalent cations
and oxyanions with charged or polar regions of the plastic surface,
and through non-specic interactions between neutral metal-
organic complexes and the hydrophobic surface.
Environmental conditions are crucial for adsorption of metals.
An increase in adsorption of Ag, Cd, Co, Ni, Pb and Zn to plastics
with increasing pH was found (Turner and Holmes, 2015).
Adsorption capacities were greater for beached plastic pellets than
for virgin plastic pellets (Holmes et al., 2012; Turner and Holmes,
2015), due to an increase in the polarity by weathering proc-
esses(Mato et al., 2001) and accumulation of biolms and hydro-
geneous precipitates (Holmes et al., 2012). During biolm
development, mature biolms in aquatic environment showed
maximum metal accumulation (Tien and Chen, 2013). Accumula-
tion of biolms increases the charge, roughness, porosity and hy-
drophilicity of the plastic surface (Artham et al., 2009). However,
microbial biolms are dynamic structures that undergo seasonal
succession of bacterial and algal species composition (Tien et al.
2009; Villeneuve et al., 2010). While concentrations of organic
contaminants varied signicantly among plastic types (Rochman
et al., 2013b), long-term eld measure of adsorption of metals is
similar among plastic types (Rochman et al., 2014), because accu-
mulation of metals to plastic may be mediated by a biolm.
Moreover, metals sorbed onto the plastic debris are related to
extraneous solids (mainly sediment and algal fragments), because
they are composed of charged minerals of relatively high surface
area (Ashton et al., 2010).
4. Biobehaviors
4.1. Ingestion
Plastic debris has contaminated the global marine environment,
with the potential to cause harm to marine ecosystem. As reported
by Laist (1997), at least 267 species, including 86% of all sea turtle
species, 44% of all seabird species, and 43% of all marine mammal
species, have been affected by plastic debris. More than 180 species of
organisms have been documented to ingest plastic debris, including
sh, turtles, marine birds and mammals (Laist, 1997). Plastic debris
is reported in the gut content of shes globally including from
estuaries (Possatto et al., 2011; Dantas et al., 2012; Ramos et al., 2012),
pelagic and demersal habitats (Davison and Asch, 2011; Lusher et al.,
2013). Ingestion of plastic debris has also been seen in wild seafood
bivalves (Van Cauwenberghe and Janssen, 2014).
Due to small size, microplastics are know to be ingested a wide
range of organisms, including amphipods (detrivores), lugworms
(deposit feeders), barnacles (lter feeders), mussels (suspension
feeders), sea cucumbers (Echinodermata), Nephrops norvegicus
(crustacean) (Thompson et al., 2004; Browne et al., 2008; Graham
and Thompson, 2009; Murray and Cowie, 2011).
4.2. Translocation
Once ingested by marine organisms, microplastic may be
retained in their digestive tract, egested in the form of feces,
absorbed into the epithelial lining of the gut by phagocytosis
(Browne et al., 2007), or translocated to other tissues. However, the
precise mechanisms of translocation in organisms remain un-
known. Thus an amount of laboratory studies have been carried
out. Microplastics were observed in gills and digestive glands of
mussles exposed to concentrations of microplastics under the
polarized light microscopy (von Moos et al., 2012). Furthermore,
microplastics ingestion is also found in the stomach, hepatopan-
creas, ovary and gills of the crabs with the help of uorescent mi-
crospheres (Farrell and Nelson, 2013). Microplastics ingested by
blue mussel Mytilus edulis could be translocated from the gut to
circulatory system and persisted for over 48 days (Browne et al.,
2008). Microplastics are translocated from the gut into the cells
and tissue of the blue mussel Mytilus edulis (von Moos et al., 2012).
Histological analyses of treated mussels, greater aggregates of
microplastics in intestinal lumen and digestive glands than those in
haemolymph and gills, and lack of microplastics in the haemocytes.
Based on organs of the digestive system and such a dimensional
difference of ingested microplastics in organisms, pathways that
microplastics would be translocated to other organs is possible
(Avio et al., 2015; Brennecke et al., 2015). A pattern of uptake of
microparticulates across the gastrointestinal lymphatics in rats
implies the rapid translocation of smaller particles is applicable to
both invertebrates and vertebrates (Hussain et al., 2001).
The ingestion by marine organisms raises concerns that
whether microplastic could be transported from the lower-trophic-
level organisms to their predators. Recent studies have shown that
microplastics could be transported from mytilus edulis to carcinus
maenas (Farrell and Nelson, 2013), and from zooplankton to mysid
shrimp (Seta l
a et al., 2014).
4.3. Biodegradation
Due to the high molecular weight, hydrophobicity and lack of
 J. Wang et al. / Marine Environmental Research 113 (2016) 7e17
microbial species that can metabololize polymers in nature, plastics
are extremely resistant to biodegradation, with the exception of
biopolymers (such as cellulose and chitin). However, studies have
identied a few microbial strains capable of biodegrading poly-
ethylene (Gilan et al., 2004; Sivan et al., 2006; Balasubramanian
et al., 2010; Harshvardhan and Jha, 2013), polyvinyl chloride
(Shah et al., 2008) and polystyrene (Mor and Sivan, 2008).
Little is known about the mechanisms involved in the biodeg-
radation. Due to the interaction of different oxidative processes
which are caused by the oxygen present in the air either by the
microorganisms or by the combination of the two, the mechanisms
would be complex (Glass and Swift, 1989). However, biodegrada-
tion may be characterized by formation of biolm, weight loss of
polymers and visual pits. Formation of biolm on the plastic surface
seems to be the favorite mode of growth of plastic degrading bac-
teria (Gilan et al., 2004; Sivan et al., 2006; Mor and Sivan, 2008;
Balasubramanian et al., 2010). Incubation of microbial strains
would result in the weight loss of polymers (Gilan et al., 2004; Sivan
et al., 2006; Mor and Sivan, 2008; Balasubramanian et al., 2010;
Harshvardhan and Jha, 2013). For example, the weight loss of
low-density polyethylene was 1%, 1.5% and 1.75% after thirty days of
incubation with the M16, M27 and H1584 strains isolated from
pelagic waters, respectively (Harshvardhan and Jha, 2013). In
addition, pits visualized in surface of microplastic under the scan-
ning electron microscope also show indications that oceanic bac-
terial populations may be contributing to degradation (Zettler et al.,
2013).
Notably, forming a stable biolm requires that the bacterial
surface will also be hydrophobic (Sivan, 2011). And a correlation
between carbon starvation and bacterial hydrophobicity has been
shown (Sakharovski et al., 1999; Sanin et al., 2003). The bacterial
adhesion to hydrocarbons (BATH) assay (Rosenberg et al., 1980) and
the salt aggregation test (SAT) (Lindahl et al., 1981) can applied to
evaluate the bacterial cell-surface hydrophobicity. Both BATH assay
and SAT showed that the cell-surface hydrophobicity of C208 was
higher than that of three other isolates which were isolated from
the same consortium but were less efcient than C208 in the
degradation of polyethylene (Gilan et al., 2004).
Furthermore, plastic polymers are not completely destroyed in
natural environments. Andrady (1998) found only 0.1% of the car-
bon in a polyethylene will be transformed into carbon dioxide each
year by biodegradation, even under optimal laboratory exposure
conditions.
4.4. The impacts of biobehaviors
4.4.1. Mechanical effects
Due to the small size and occurrence in the planktonic and
benthic ecosystems, microplastics are potentially ingested by a
series of biotas.
Many species of marine organisms, such as seabirds, would
mistake plastics for food (Derraik, 2002; Moore, 2008; Ryan et al.,
2009; van Franeker et al., 2011). An early study investigating the
colour and size distribution of microplastics also suggested that
planktonic organisms will most commonly mistake white and
lightly-coloured plastic fragments for prey (Shaw and Day, 1994).
Studies have shown that the lower-trophic-level organisms, such as
zooplankton, invertebrates and echinoderms are vulnerable to the
intake of microplastics. Ingestion of microplastics would cause
mechanical effects like larger plastics. Microplastics might block
the feeding appendages or hinder the passage of food through the
intestinal tract (Tourinho et al., 2010) or cause pseudo-satiation
resulting in decreasing food intake (Derraik, 2002; Thompson,
2006).
However, quantities of marine organisms may have the ability to
13
remove unwanted materials (e.g. sediment, natural detritus and
particulates) from their body without causing harm (Thompson,
2006; Andrady, 2011). Take polychaete worms for example, they
ingested microplastics from their surrounding sediment and then
egested them in their faecal casts (Thompson et al., 2004).
4.4.2. Leaching of chemical ingredients
Plastics are made up of monomers, additives and other in-
gredients. None of enzymes are reported to be available to degrade
the synthetic polymers in any organism. Due to large molecular
size, plastic is considered to be biochemically inert and not a hazard
to aquatic animals and human. However, more than 50% of plastics
are associated with hazardous monomers, additives and chemical
byproducts, based on the UN Globally Harmonised System (Lithner
et al., 2011). Polymerization reactions during production are
commonly uncompleted, leaving unreacted residual monomers
(e.g. vinyl chloride and styrene) and other hazardous ingredients
(e.g solvents and additives) are also present in plastic products
(Lithner et al., 2011; Rochman, 2013). Moreover, these non-
polymeric components are free to migrate from the plastic prod-
ucts to other contact media, because of low molecular weight
(Lithner et al., 2011).
Polystyrene (Garrigos et al., 2004), polyvinylchloride (Marcilla
et al., 2004), and polycarbonate (vom Saal and Hughes, 2005)
have been shown to release toxic monomers that are associated
with cancer and reproductive abnormities in humans, rodents, and
invertebrates. Research shows that additives could leach from
plastics ingested by marine organisms (Koelmans et al., 2014),
providing a negligible exposure pathway. Additives in polyvinyl-
chloride could transfer from medical supplies to humans (Mettang
et al., 1996), indicating that additives could accumulate in the blood
(Rochman et al., 2013a). An initial screening study of the toxicity of
leachates from weathering plastics have shown that 38% plastics
produced leachates that caused acute toxicity to Nitocra spinipes
(Bejgarn et al., 2015). Notably, some additives such as nonylphenol
and brominated ame-retardants are endocrine interference and
carcinogen. Brominated ame-retardants are not covalently bound
to plastic matrix and may be absorbed into the body tissue. Poly-
brominated diphenylethers not only have toxic effects on neuro-
logical development, but disrupt the endocrine. Even at very low
concentrations, nonylphenol can interfere with the endocrine.
4.4.3. Release of sorbed pollutants
Risks associated with plastics not only come from the material
itself but also from sorbed pollutants. No doubt, plastic debris
readily accumulates harmful pollutants from the surrounding
environment, increasing their concentration by orders of magni-
tude. Ingestion of plastics with sorbed pollutants has been previ-
ously suggested as a possible exposure pathway for pollutants to
organisms (Fry et al., 1987; Ryan et al., 1988). Greater concentra-
tions of PBDEs found in birds than those in their prey (pelagic sh)
suggested the transfer of plastic-derived chemicals from ingested
plastics to the tissues of marine-based organisms (Tanaka et al.,
2013). Greater concentrations of PCBs and PBDEs found in sh fed
with the marine plastic than those fed with the virgin plastic
(Rochman et al., 2013c) indicated that plastic debris serves as a
vector for the sorbed pollutants to wildlife. Through exposure of
lugworms to sand with presorbed pollutants and additives, Browne
et al. (2013) have shown evidence that supports the transfer of
pollutants and additives into the tissues of animals from plastics.
Furthermore, POPs released from plastic debris under simulated
physiological conditions have been demonstrated (Bakir et al.,
2014).
Further studies have been carried out to know the bioavailability
of absorbed pollutants. Avio et al. (2015) found an elevated
14 J. Wang et al. / Marine Environmental Research 113 (2016) 7e17

Table 2
Areas for future research.

1. Little is known about the temporal and spatial accumulation of plastic debris along the coasts. Such conicting trends in temporal accumulation of oating plastic debris
in the seawater surface raise questions about the abundance, distribution and fate of plastic debris in the marine environment.
2. Little is known about the nanoplastics in the marine environment, but nanoplastics should be of specic interest because of their nano-specic properties.
3. Little is known about the mechanisms involved in the biodegradation, though some microbial strains capable of biodegrading plastics are reported. Further studies may
do help to manufacture biodegradable plastics and other materials.
4. Further studies are needed to understand the possible mechanisms and factors of adsorption or desorption of POPs and metals among plastic types in the marine
environment or in organisms. Existing data on the adsorption are limited to commonly produced polymers in the laboratory studies.
5. Further studies are needed to know the bioaccumulation of plastics and absorbed pollutants in wildlife, whether or not plastic acts as a vector for absorbed pollutants
prior to other relative sources, whether or not plastics and absorbed pollutants biomagnify in higher-trophic-level organisms, including humans.

bioavailability of pyrene after microplastics ingestion by mussels,
and particularly concentrations of pyrene appeared in digestive
glands was up to 3 folds higher than those present on contaminated
microplastics. Increased PCBs accumulation by a factor of 1.1e3.6
was observed in lugworm at the presence of microplastics
(Besseling et al., 2012). In contrast, Chua et al. (2014) have shown
the presence of microplastics apparently inhibited the assimilation
of PBDEs into amphipods, possibly because PBDEs were strongly
adsorbed to microplastics, making them less bioavailable. Khan
et al. (2015) found a signicant decrease in whole body Ag uptake
of zebrash, but an increase proportion of Ag in intestine at the
presence of microplastics, which indicates that microplastics can
alter the bioavailability and uptake route of a metal contaminant.
Uptake of microplastics delayed pyrene-induced sh mortality and
increased the concentration of bile pyrene metabolites (Oliveira
et al., 2013), which indicates microplastics could modulate the
bioavailability or biotransformation of pyrene. An increase or a
decrease found in accumulation of sorbed pollutants at presence of
microplastics indicates that chemical gradients may play an
important role in driving the chemical from microplastics to or-
ganisms, or from the organisms to microplastics (Gouin et al., 2011;
Koelmans, 2015).
Effects of virgin and contaminated microplastics to marine or-
ganisms have also been shown. For example, microplastics had
statistically signicant effects on the organisms tness and bio-
accumulation, but the magnitude of the effects was not high
(Besseling et al., 2012). Both virgin and contaminated microplastics
induced several effects at transcriptional and cellular levels to
mussels (Avio et al., 2015). Microplastics, alone or in combination
with pyrene, signicantly reduced acetylcholinesterase (AChE) ac-
tivity. However, simultaneous exposure to both did not increase
signicantly the inhibitory effect (Oliveira et al., 2013). Under
simultaneous exposure to Cr(VI) and microplastics, Lus et al. (2015)
found a signicant decrease of the predatory performance and a
signicant inhibition of AChE activity higher than the inhibition
caused by microplastics alone, while a inhibition was not observed
in the bioassay investigating the effects of Cr(VI) alone.
Greater than 78% (Rochman et al., 2013a) of the sorbed pollut-
ants to plastic debris are priority pollutants (Rochman, 2013),
which are considered a hazard to aquatic animals. Much of them
are chlorinated organic compounds. Chlorine is a greatly active
element, and nearly 40,000 kinds of man-made chemicals include
this element. However, the chlorine atom can enhance the stability
and durability of molecule when combined with other atoms,
which leads to accumulation of chlorinated organic compounds in
the organisms and causes adverse effects.
5. Conclusions and recommendations for future work
Herein, we rstly classify the behaviors of microplastics as
physical behaviors (i.e. migration, sedimentation and accumula-
tion), chemical behaviors (i.e. degradation and adsorption) and
biobehaviors (i.e. ingestion, translocation and biodegradation), and
a further discussion on their behavioral mechanisms was also
presented to better understand their impacts for marine
environment.
Once entering the ocean, microplastics could be migrated by
currents, wind, tides and tsunamis. Due to colonization by micro-
bial communities, adherence to phytoplankton and aggregation
with organic debris and metals, oating plastic debris would
eventually sink to the seabed. Plastic debris is almost ubiquitous in
the global marine environment, extending from Polar Regions to
the equator, from remote shorelines to highly populated coastlines,
from the coast far out to sea, and down onto the deep-sea. Coupled
with physical abrasion (e.g. wave action and sand grinding) and/or
microbial populations, exposure of plastic to solar UV radiation
would result in photodegradation, embrittlement and fragmenta-
tion. Due to durable properties and poor rate of removing, it seems
to be certain that microplastics would inevitably increase in the
marine environment with time. Studies of temporal accumulation
of oating plastic debris have shown conicting trends. Though
limited data exist to describe the temporal variability, possible
mechanisms of removing plastic debris from the ocean surface,
including sedimentation, shore deposition, nanofragmentation and
ingestion, are at play. Because of the small size, microplastics can be
ingested by a wide range of marine organisms. For organisms, risks
associated with ingested plastics not only come from the material
itself but also from sorbed pollutants. What's worse, the ingested
plastics would translocate to other tissues of organisms and
transfer to higher-trophic-level organisms through the food chains.
With increasing production, poor policy enforcement (Shaxson,
2009) and infeasible removal of substantial plastic debris, the
plastic pollution in the marine environment would deteriorate.
Going forward, herein we present a list of areas for future research
that deserve further attention on this growing issue (shown in
Table 2).
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to all people who provided many constructive
comments that helped to improve this manuscript. Special thanks
must go to Dr. Xubiao Yu for his valuable suggestions and
comments.
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