Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
GLOBAL CHALLENGES. AN EMERGENCY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES, 3 - 06 Mayıs 2021, ss.222
Micro size plastic particles (MPs), either directly released or created as a consequence of the fragmentation of macro plastics, is an emerging threat to aquatic ecosystems. Due to their sizes they are easily accessible to marine life and disperse great distances. They are known to ingested by fishes yet many questions remain about the factors affecting microplastic ingestion. Here investigate the impacts of season, depth, fish size, trophic level and habitat on the MPs exposure of commercial fish species in the Mediterranean Sea. A total of 1364 fish individual belonging to four species were analysed in order to determine the state of MPs exposure to fishes. 275 MPs were detected in gastrointestinal tract of examined fishes. All the species found to be impacted from the MPs pollution and MPs exposure rate of the fish species in the study was %20.5. Highest exposure rate was detected for Saurida lessepsianus (%35.5). Within the five different MPs types, most common type was Fiber (%94.9). Black was the most common MPs colour (%48,8). The average length of detected MPs 1.49±1.485mm. Although depth and fish size reported to be the two factors that have impact on MPs ingestion of fish, our results indicated no impact for the evaluated species. On the other hand, in addition to seasonal environmental changes causing MPs dispersal in the marine environment, which accumulates in the terrestrial area, biotic factors such as habitat and food preference has a significant influence on MPs ingestion of fishes.