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Plastic pollution represents a threat to marine ecosystems and has therefore been gaining space in the realm of public interest. In this study, we investigated the ingestion of food and non-food items (i.e., plastic particles) by fish and crabs. These animals are commonly collected by trawling with a double-ring net along the coast of Cananéia, state of São Paulo, Brazil; some of them are consumed as food by the local population. Fish and crab stomachs were removed and dissected, and their contents were examined under a stereoscopic microscope with an image-capturing system. The presence or absence of plastic was also registered. We examined 139 specimens of 16 fish species and 143 specimens of four crab species. The most frequent food items found in fish were unidentified food, followed by crustaceans, molluscs, polychaetes, and other fish; in crabs, the items were unidentified food, followed by crustaceans, molluscs and fish. Plastic particles were found in all fish species, representing 47.5% of the individuals analysed. In crabs, the incidence of plastic was lower, occurring in only two species (5% in Callinectes danae and 3% in C. ornatus). Only four fish species analysed had previous records of plastic ingestion in the scientific literature. The high incidence of microplastics in our study is worrying because they negatively affect the animals’ lives and can be transferred through the tropic web to top predators, including humans, through the ingestion of contaminated animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Plastic pollution represents a threat to marine ecosystems and has therefore been gaining space in the realm of public interest. In this study, we investigated the ingestion of food and non-food items (i.e., plastic particles) by fish and crabs. These animals are commonly collected by trawling with a double-ring net along the coast of Cananéia, state of São Paulo, Brazil; some of them are consumed as food by the local population. Fish and crab stomachs were removed and dissected, and their contents were examined under a stereoscopic microscope with an image-capturing system. The presence or absence of plastic was also registered. We examined 139 specimens of 16 fish species and 143 specimens of four crab species. The most frequent food items found in fish were unidentified food, followed by crustaceans, molluscs, polychaetes, and other fish; in crabs, the items were unidentified food, followed by crustaceans, molluscs and fish. Plastic particles were found in all fish species, representing 47.5% of the individuals analysed. In crabs, the incidence of plastic was lower, occurring in only two species (5% in Callinectes danae and 3% in C. ornatus). Only four fish species analysed had previous records of plastic ingestion in the scientific literature. The high incidence of microplastics in our study is worrying because they negatively affect the animals’ lives and can be transferred through the tropic web to top predators, including humans, through the ingestion of contaminated animals.

The ingestion of microplastics has been recorded in hundreds of species. The ingestion rate and degree of impact is species-specific and depends on food preferences, foraging behaviour, and plastic pollution of the area. Currently there is a large knowledge gap regarding ingestion of marine litter by invertebrates in brackish water bodies. Therefore, experiments were conducted to investigate microplastics uptake and potential accumulation in the digestive system of the Harris mud crab Rhithropanopeus harrisii. Effects of microplastics on the growth of crabs were also tested. The results show that R. harrisii consume microplastics together with food, only plastic fragments too large for the digestion system were removed by crabs. The effect and duration of passage of plastic are not consistent and depend on the size and type of plastic. Microplastic fragments (

Microplastics (MP) have several negative effects on biodiversity, from the ecosystem to individual levels, and can be easily consumed by small invertebrates and fish. The increased production of plastic and absence of efficient management systems for these residues facilitate their presence in aquatic environments. In this study, we evaluated the presence of MP in the stomach contents of four species of Characidae in rural streams in the upper portion of the Uruguay River watershed (northern Rio Grande do Sul). Among the total of collected organisms (n=121), the presence of MP was observed in 72% of the analyzed stomach contents. Bryconamericus iheringii had the highest occurrence of MP (85.7%), followed by Astyanax lacustris (69.4%), Astyanax henseli (69.1%) and Oligosarchus breviostris (66.7%). Our results demonstrate the high occurrence of MP in freshwater aquatic environments, especially rural streams. The results observed in this study confirm the importance of conservation of streams, from the maintenance of riparian vegetation as a way to reduce the input of MP in these ecosystems.

Microplastics have been documented in a wide range of commercially available food products, and the presence of microplastics in tap water has received considerable attention in recent years. Although microplastics in drinking water pose a low concern for human health at current levels of exposure, there is a need to understand the potential pathways for human microplastic exposure. With the application of Rose Bengal staining, microplastics in 110 surface water-sourced tap water samples from urban sources in Hong Kong were qualified and morphologically characterized. A total of 224 items were identified in 86 (78.2%) samples with a mean concentration of 2.181 ± 0.165 n L−1. Fibrous and smaller (<1 mm) microplastics predominated in samples, accounting for 97.8% and 65.1% of the total microplastic count, respectively. Our results indicated a comparatively low level of microplastic contamination of tap water in Hong Kong. The potential sources of microplastics could be microplastic-polluted water bodies, atmospheric input and mechanical abrasion of plastic equipment during water treatment and distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ingestion of microplastics has been recorded in hundreds of species. The ingestion rate and degree of impact is speciesspecific and depends on food preferences, foraging behaviour, and plastic pollution of the area. Currently there is a large knowledge gap regarding ingestion of marine litter by invertebrates in brackish water bodies. Therefore, experiments were conducted to investigate microplastics uptake and potential accumulation in the digestive system of the Harris mud crab Rhithropanopeus harrisii. Effects of microplastics on the growth of crabs were also tested. The results show that R. harrisii consume microplastics together with food, only plastic fragments too large for the digestion system were removed by crabs. The effect and duration of passage of plastic are not consistent and depend on the size and type of plastic. Microplastic fragments (<0.25 mm) ingested by crab were continuously egested while knotted fibres may accumulate in the stomach. The crabs fed with plastic supplements lost weight or had lower weight increase compared to control group after two-month treatment. However, the differences between treatments were not statistically significant. For the first time, occurrence of plastic in the digestive system of crabs collected from the natural habitats of Pärnu Bay (NE Baltic Sea, Estonia) was studied. Among all the crabs examined, 5% of specimens were found with fibres in their stomach assimilated prior to their capture from nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microplastics have been documented in a wide range of commercially available food products, and the presence of microplastics in tap water has received considerable attention in recent years. Although microplastics in drinking water pose a low concern for human health at current levels of exposure, there is a need to understand the potential pathways for human microplastic exposure. With the application of Rose Bengal staining, microplastics in 110 surface water-sourced tap water samples from urban sources in Hong Kong were qualified and morphologically characterized. A total of 224 items were identified in 86 (78.2%) samples with a mean concentration of 2.181 ± 0.165 n L−1. Fibrous and smaller (

Microplastics are an emerging contaminant of concern in aquatic ecosystems. To better understand microplastic contamination in North American surface waters, we report for the first time densities of microplastics in Lake Winnipeg, the 11th largest freshwater body in the world. Samples taken 2014 to 2016 revealed similar or significantly greater microplastic densities in Lake Winnipeg compared with those reported in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Plastics in the lake were largely of secondary origin, overwhelmingly identified as fibres. We detected significantly greater densities of microplastics in the north basin compared to the south basin of the lake in 2014, but not in 2015 or 2016. Mean lake-wide densities across all years were comparable and not statistically different. Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy indicated that 23% of isolated particles on average were not plastic. While the ecological impact of microplastics on aquatic ecosystems is still largely unknown, our study contributes to the growing evidence that microplastic contamination is widespread even around sparsely-populated freshwater ecosystems, and provides a baseline for future study and risk assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is a major rice producing country and the husk generated during millings is mostly used as fuel in the boilers for processing paddy, producing energy through direct combustion and/or by gasification. About 20 million tonnes of Rice Husk Ash (RHA) is produced annually and is a great environ mental threat, causing damage to the land and the surrounding area in which it is dumped. In the conversion of rice husks to ash, the combustion process removes the organic matter and leaves silica rich residue. The fiber inclusions increase the strength of the cement-stabilized specimens as well as that of the ash-soil specimens and change their brittle behavior to ductile behavior. In this paper, the effect of different contents of Rice Husk Ash (RHA) added to concrete containing super plasticizer and with and without plastic fibers on its compressive strength has been studied. Samples with 3%, 5%, 7%, 10%, 12% and 15% content of RHA replacing the cement have been tested. The results have been compared with those for the control sample and viability of adding RHA to concrete has been studied. It was observed that up to 10% of cement can be replaced with RHA mixed with plastic fibres with nearly equivalent compressive strength. Further replacement of cement up to 15% will result in concrete of fair compressive strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Disintegration of raw specimens during Water absorption test clearly suggest the essentiality of Cement stabilisation. [•] Static compaction with Cement stabilisation reduces Water absorption. [•] 10–15% Cement stabilisation reduce the Water absorption to fall within the BIS specifications. [•] The Sorptivity values varied from 0.984 to 0.304mm/√min, for different combinations of stabilisers and fibres. [•] The combination of mechanical and chemical stabilisation has resulted in a reduction in Sorptivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] Experimental campaign of PFRCPs with internal diameter of 1000mm. [•] Computer-aided optimum design of PFRCPs. [•] Proposal of an analytical methodology for the design. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]