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Marine Plastics
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Marine Plastics

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical Oceanography".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 January 2021) | Viewed by 11944

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Alessandro Stocchino

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Interests: marine plastics; mixing processes in geophysical flows; river and coastal dynamics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plastic debris of different dimensions have been observed worldwide in any sea basins, posing new scientific and technological challenges to the understanding of the complexity of their transport processes and the interplay between plastics and biota and to the design of remediation strategies. Despite great efforts devoted to understanding these aspects, several issues are still open.

This Special Issue dedicated to Marine Plastics will consider for publication original scientific contributions that aim at deepening the following aspects: transport models of macro- and micro-plastics on both a regional and a coastal scale; field observations in border environments such as estuaries and lagoons; the role of micro-plastics as a transport vector for other pollutants and/or species; the role of biofouling on the transport of micro-plastics; observations of micro-plastics on the seafloor or in deep waters; ecotoxicology of  plastic debris

Prof. Alessandro Stocchino
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plastic debris transport models
  • ecotoxicology of plastic debris
  • plastic in estuaries and lagoons
  • seafloor plastic observations
  • biofouling of plastic debris

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1936 KiB  
Article
Quantification of Microplastics in North-Western Mediterranean Harbors: Seasonality and Biofilm-Related Metallic Contaminants
by Javier A. Tesán Onrubia, Kahina Djaoudi, Franco Borgogno, Susanna Canuto, Bernard Angeletti, Giovanni Besio, Marco Capello, Laura Cutroneo, Alessandro Stocchino, Stéphane Mounier and Véronique Lenoble
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(3), 337; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9030337 - 19 Mar 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3861
Abstract
The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most impacted basins in terms of microplastics pollution. Land-based activities are the major sources of plastic litter to the ocean, with harbors probably representing significant hotspots. In the framework of the SPlasH! project (Stop alle Plastiche [...] Read more.
The Mediterranean Sea is one of the most impacted basins in terms of microplastics pollution. Land-based activities are the major sources of plastic litter to the ocean, with harbors probably representing significant hotspots. In the framework of the SPlasH! project (Stop alle Plastiche in H2O, Interreg Marittimo project), microplastics were sampled in three north-western Mediterranean harbors during summer and winter. In this study, the areal concentrations of microplastics ranged from 5576 to 379,965 items·km−2. A decreasing gradient was observed from the inner to the outer zones of the studied harbors, pointing out these enclosed systems as hotspots regarding microplastic pollution. During summer, the areal concentrations of microplastics were higher than in winter, which could be explained by an enhancement of port activities leading to MPs production. The investigation of microplastics size classes distribution in the surface waters revealed that microplastics within the size range between 300 µm and 500 µm were the least represented. In this study, we assessed trace metal (Pb, Fe, Cu, V, Cd and As) bioaccumulation by the biofilm which developed on the surface of microplastics. The results highlighted that concentrations within the biofilm were higher than those in the surrounding waters. This result strongly suggested trace metal bioaccumulation on microplastics through biofilm formation. When trace metal concentrations were normalized over the corresponding surface of microplastics and macroplastics, higher values were obtained for microplastics, evidencing their enhanced capacities to bioaccumulate contaminants when compared to macroplastics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Plastics)
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16 pages, 2882 KiB  
Article
Settling Velocity of Microplastics Exposed to Wave Action
by Annalisa De Leo, Laura Cutroneo, Damien Sous and Alessandro Stocchino
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(2), 142; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9020142 - 29 Jan 2021
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3148
Abstract
Microplastic (MP) debris is recognized to be one of the most serious threats to marine environments. They are found in all seas and oceanic basins worldwide, even in the most remote areas. This is further proof that the transport of MPs is very [...] Read more.
Microplastic (MP) debris is recognized to be one of the most serious threats to marine environments. They are found in all seas and oceanic basins worldwide, even in the most remote areas. This is further proof that the transport of MPs is very efficient. In the present study, we focus our attention on MPs’ transport owing to the Stokes drift generated by sea waves. Recent studies have shown that the interaction between heavy particles and Stokes drift leads to unexpected phenomena mostly related to inertial effects. We perform a series of laboratory experiments with the aim to directly measure MPs’ trajectories under different wave conditions. The main objective is to quantify the inertial effect and, ultimately, suggest a new analytical formulation for the net settling velocity. The latter formula might be implemented in a larger scale transport model in order to account for inertial effects in a simplified approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Plastics)
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15 pages, 2563 KiB  
Article
Occurrence, Composition, and Relationships in Marine Plastic Debris on the First Long Beach Adjacent to the Land-Based Source, South China Sea
by Peng Zhang, Shan-Shan Wei, Ji-Biao Zhang, Zhou Ou, Yu-Qin Yang and Ming-Yue Wang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(9), 666; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8090666 - 28 Aug 2020
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4154
Abstract
Land-based sources are the key sources of plastic debris, and mismanaged plastic debris can eventually enter the ocean via marine beaches. In this study, the spatial distribution and amount of plastic debris in the land-based source input zone of First Long Beach (FLB), [...] Read more.
Land-based sources are the key sources of plastic debris, and mismanaged plastic debris can eventually enter the ocean via marine beaches. In this study, the spatial distribution and amount of plastic debris in the land-based source input zone of First Long Beach (FLB), China, which is a major tourist attraction, were first investigated. By using field investigation, sand samples were collected from two sections on FLB adjacent to land-based sources in December 2019, and the plastic debris in the sand samples was quantified and characterized in the laboratory. The amount of plastic debris ranged from 2 to 82 particles/m2 on this marine sand beach. There was a significant difference in plastic debris amount between the transects along the land-based source input zone (p < 0.05) due to the impacts of wind, ocean currents, and waves. The most abundant size of plastics was 0.5–2.5 cm (44.4%). Moreover, the most common color was white (60.9%). The most abundant shape of plastic debris fell into the fragment category (76.2%). The plastic debris amounts were significantly correlated with multiple sizes. Our results show that land-based wastewater discharge is a large plastic debris source on FLB under coastal water tide variation. Reduction strategies should be carried out by tracing the various land-based sources of plastic debris. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Plastics)
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