| dc.description.abstract | Nowadays plastic debris are found in oceans.Various processes lead to a
transformation of macroplastics into microplastics (i.e. particles < 5mm). Sunlight
and the action of the waves can degrade plastic and shred the material over time
into smaller pieces. Furthermore, they can be found as ingredients of different
products e.g. cosmetics and therefore enter the marine environment. Microplastics
could have negative effects on marine organisms, especially for benthic organisms
but up to now little is known about potential consequences. This study aims to
investigate the physiological impact of microplastics on marine deposit-feeding
invertebrates like sea cucumber Holothuria leucospilota.
Polyvinylchloride (PVC) and fluoranthene was selected as a representative
model plastic and model pollutant. The size range of PVC particles were 50-200
μm and have been previously polluted with fluoranthene. In laboratory, groups of
sea cucumbers (n=15) were exposed to 6 different pollution scenarios (i.e. 0%;
0.03%; 0.3%; 1%; 3% and 3% non polluted with fluoranthene) which differed
regard to the microplastics density (% by weight of sediment). Futhermore, after
exposed from PVC particles polluted and non polluted with fluoranthene,
H. leucospilota would faced hypoxia condition used as a common response
variable to investigate if H. leucospilota has a lower resistance to environmental
stress due to previous microplastics ingestion.
The study revealed that after 60 days exposure to microplastic PVC
particles polluted and non polluted with fluoranthene is not given any negatively
influence on physiological parameters (respiration rate, faeces production and
survival rate) of black sea cucumber H. leucospilota. This study clearly indicates
that H. leucospilota is susceptible to oxygen depletion. Probably, long-term
experiments will reveal negative impacts that were not detected in the present
study. Another aspects from this study, microplastics particles were collected and
found in all sediment samples, depths and sampling locations at Rambut Island
which also took H. leucospilota but in different site. The diverse composition of
microplastics particularly on type at the sampling location Rambut Island were
found fibers, foamed particles, films and fragments. Further, these findings
revealed a possible threshold of marine organisms on the marine biodiversity
especially in Rambut Island, one of closest island to Jakarta Bay. | id |
