Читать книгу Plastic and Microplastic in the Environment - Группа авторов - Страница 36

The harmful effect of plastics on the various life forms and the ecology may be due to various feedback mechanisms (Figure 2.2). While available literature reports mostly physical effects due to exposure to this pollutant on organisms or ecosystem function, chemical effects due to various processes such as adsorption and bioaccumulation of toxic chemicals, and the impacts due to leaching of harmful additives in plastics have not been investigated.

One of the most observed hazardous physical effects of plastic pollution that has been found in various studies is entanglement and external physical damage to larger organisms from plastic items such as fishing nets and rope (Jacobsen et al. 2010). The smaller organisms also face problems such as zooplanktons exposed to MPs, which suffered from antennal and carapace deformities (Ziajahromi et al. 2017). Moreover, due to the similarity in size of these debris with that of the larvae of several organisms and planktons, many aquatic life forms can suffer by ingesting these plastics (Besseling et al. 2014; Boerger et al. 2010; Browne et al. 2008; Kaposi et al. 2014; Tanaka & Takada 2016). Recently, several studies have investigated that the hazardous chemicals can be transported into organisms through various pathways, and these can eventually cause health hazards in humans by reaching through the food chain, which is another concern (Besseling et al. 2017; Browne et al. 2013; Koelmans et al. 2013; Koelmans et al. 2016; Rochman et al. 2015; Tanaka et al. 2013, 2015; Thompson et al. 2009; Van Cauwenberghe & Janssen 2014; Wright & Kelly 2017). A recent study (Wilson et al. 2020) revealed that plastics represent the most diverse habitat for invertebrates in some rivers, which is a sad state of affairs.

Figure 2.2 Ecological effects of plastics (

Source: adapted and modified from Windsor et al. 2019

).