Contaminación por microplásticos en playas del Pacífico de Guatemala: abundancia y características

Carlos Mazariegos-Ortíz; Luis García-Arroyave; Carolina Marroquín-Mora; Ana L. Mendizábal

doi:10.36829/63CTS.v8i2.904

Authors

Carlos Mazariegos-Ortíz Centro de Estudios del Mar y Acuicultura, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala. http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6479-9953
Luis García-Arroyave Centro de Estudios del Mar y Acuicultura, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala.
Carolina Marroquín-Mora Centro de Estudios del Mar y Acuicultura, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3221-5703
Ana L. Mendizábal Laboratorio de Química Avanzada, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36829/63CTS.v8i2.904

Keywords:

sand, polystyrene, polypropylene, polyethylene, abundance

Abstract

Microplastics < 5 mm (MPs) pollution has gained relevance in the last years because of its impact on the ecosystems. In Guatemala, information related to MPS as an environmental stressor is lacking, that is why this study aimed to assess the abundance and characteristics of MPS in four beaches to the Pacific Ocean of Guatemala, Ocós, Tulate, Sipacate, and Las Lisas. Sand samples were collected in May and October 2019. MPs were isolated and classified by shape and the type of polymer was identified by using Attenuated Total Reflec-tion-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). The abundance expressed in MPs/m² in May was 25.6, 5.6, 0.8 and 0 MPs/m² in Tulate, Las Lisas, Ocós, and Sipacate; whereas in October was 59.6, 23.2, 17.6, and 17.6 MPs/m² in Tulate, Las Lisas, Ocós and Sipacate. Fragments, foam, pellets, and film were the predominant shapes found on the beaches. The ATR-FTIR analysis indicates that the main polymers identified in the beaches are polyethylene, polystyrene, and polypropylene. The results of this study indicate that the Pacific Beaches of Guatemala are contaminated by MPs of different types of polymers. These results offer important information to decision makers about disposal and management of marine plastic litter.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Carlos Mazariegos-Ortíz, Centro de Estudios del Mar y Acuicultura, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala.

Profesor investigador del Centro de Estudios del Mar y Acuicultura de la Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala en el área de acuicultura de especies nativas de agua dulce y marinas; además en el área de estadística aplicada.

Luis García-Arroyave, Centro de Estudios del Mar y Acuicultura, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala.

Estudiante de Licenciatura en Recursos Hidrobiológicos del Centro de Estudios del Mar y Acuicultura con enfoque de investigación sobre contaminación en zonas marino costeras.

Carolina Marroquín-Mora, Centro de Estudios del Mar y Acuicultura, Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala.

Profesora investigadora del Centro de Estudios del Mar y Acuicultura con énfasis en sanidad acuícola, microbiología y fisiología de animales acuáticos.

References

Acosta-Coley, I., & Olivero-Verbel, J. (2015). Microplastic resin pellets on an urban tropical beach in Colombia. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 187(7), 435. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-015-4602-7

Andrady, A. L. (2011). Microplastics in the marine environment. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 62(8), 1596-1605. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.05.030

Barnes, D. K. A., Galgani, F., Thompson, R. C., & Barlaz, M. (2009). Accumulation and fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1526), 1985-1998. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0205

Bimali Koongolla, J., Andrady, A. L., Terney Pradeep Kumara, P. B., & Gangabadage, C. S. (2018). Evidence of microplastics pollution in coastal beaches and waters in southern Sri Lanka. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 137, 277-284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.10.031

Boucher, J., & Friot, D. (2017). Primary microplastics in the oceans: A global evaluation of sources. International Union for Conservation of Nature. https://10.2305/IUCN.CH.2017.01.en

Browne, M. A., Crump, P., Niven, S. J., Teuten, E., Tonkin, A., Galloway, T., & Thompson, R. (2011). Accumulation of microplastic on shorelines woldwide: Sources and sinks. Environmental Science and Technology, 45(21), 9175-9179. https://doi.org/10.1021/es201811s

Claessens, M., Meester, S. De, Landuyt, L. Van, Clerck, K. De, & Janssen, C. R. (2011). Occurrence and distribution of microplastics in marine sediments along the Belgian coast. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 62(10), 2199-2204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.06.030

Cole, M., Lindeque, P., Halsband, C., & Galloway, T. S. (2011). Microplastics as contaminants in the marine environment: A review. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 62(12), 2158-2597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.09.025

Corcoran, P. L., Biesinger, M. C., & Grifi, M. (2009). Plastics and beaches: A degrading relationship. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 58(1), 80-84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2008.08.022

de Sá, L. C., Oliveira, M., Ribeiro, F., Rocha, T. L., & Futter, M. N. (2018). Studies of the effects of microplastics on aquatic organisms: What do we know and where should we focus our efforts in the future? Science of the Total Environment, 645(15), 1029-1039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.207

de Souza Machado, A. A., Kloas, W., Zarfl, C., Hempel, S., & Rillig, M. C. (2018). Microplastics as an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems. Global Change Biology, 24(4), 1405-1416. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14020

Delvalle de Borrero, D., Fábrega Duque, J., Olmos, J., Garcés-Ordóñez, O., Amaral, S. S. G. do, Vezzone, M., de Sá Felizardo, J. P. Meigikos dos Anjos, R. (2020). Distribution of plastic debris in the Pacific and Caribbean aches of Panama. Air, Soil and Water Research, 13, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1177/1178622120920268

Garcés-Ordóñez, O., Mejía-Esquivia, K. A., Sierra-Labastidas, T., Patiño, A., Blandón, L. M., & Espinosa Díaz, L. F. (2020). Prevalence of microplastic contamination in the digestive tract of fishes from mangrove ecosystem in Cispata, Colombian Caribbean. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 154, Article 111085. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111085

Geyer, R., Jambeck, J. R., & Law, K. L. (2017). Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Science Advances, 3(7). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1700782

Hidalgo-Ruz, V., Gutow, L., Thompson, R. C., & Thiel, M. (2012). Microplastics in the marine environment: A review of the methods used for identification and quantification. Environmental Science and Technology, 46(6), 3060-3075. https://doi.org/10.1021/es2031505

Instituto Privado de Investigación sobre Cambio Climático. (2019). Síntesis de la información de los ríos de la Costa Sur de Guatemala: Promedios caudales comparativos en la temporada seca de los años 2017, 2018 y 2019. https://icc.org.gt/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Síntesis-del-Sistema-de-Información-ríos-Costa-Sur-2017-a-2019.pdf

Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection. (2019). Guidelines for the monitoring and assessment of plastic litter and microplastics in the ocean (No. 99). United Nations Environment Programmehttps://environmentlive.unep.org/media/docs/marine_plastics/une_science_dvision_gesamp_reports.pdf

Jung, M. R., Horgen, F. D., Orski, S. V., Rodriguez C., V., Beers, K. L., Balazs, G. H., Todd Jones, T., Work, T. M., Brignac, K. C., Roye, S.J., Hyrenbach, D., Jensen, B. A., & Lynch, J. M. (2018). Validation of ATR FT-IR to identify polymers of plastic marine debris, including those ingested by marine organisms. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 127, 704-716. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.12.061

Kunz, A., Walther, B. A., Löwemark, L., & Lee, Y. C. (2016). Distribution and quantity of microplastic on sandy beaches along the northern coast of Taiwan. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 111(1-2), 126-135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.07.022

Lebreton, L. C. M., van der Zwet, J., Damsteeg, J.-W., Slat, B., Andrady, A., & Reisser, J. (2017). River plastic emissions to the world’s oceans. Nature Communications, 8, Article 15611. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15611

Li, W. C., Tse, H. F., & Fok, L. (2016). Plastic waste in the marine environment: A review of sources, occurrence and effects. Science of the Total Environment, 566-567, 333-339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.05.084

Lots, F. A. E., Behrens, P., Vijver, M. G., Horton, A. A., & Bosker, T. (2017). A large-scale investigation of microplastic contamination: Abundance and characteristics of microplastics in European beach sediment. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 123(1-2), 219-226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.08.057

Martin, C., Almahasheer, H., & Duarte, C. M. (2019). Mangrove forests as traps for marine litter. Environmental Pollution, 247, 499-508. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2019.01.067

Mazariegos-Ortíz, C., Rosales, M. de los A., Carrillo-Ovalle, L., Pereira-Cardoso, R., Costa-Muniz, M., & dos Anjos, R. M. (2020). First evidence of microplastic pollution in the El Quetzalito sand beach of the Guatemalan Caribbean. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 156, Article 111220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111220

Mazariegos-Ortíz, C., Xajil-Sabán, M., Blanda, E., & Delvalle-Borrero, D. (2021). Ocurrencia de microplásticos en el tracto digestivo de peces de la Reserva Natural de Usos Múltiples Monterrico, Guatemala. Ecosistemas, 30(2), Article 2188. https://doi.org/10.7818/ECOS.2188

Meijer, L. J. J., van Emmerik, T., van der Ent, R., Schmidt, C., & Lebreton, L. (2021). More than 1000 rivers account for 80% of global riverine plastic emissions into the ocean. Science Advances, 7(18), Article eaaz5803. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz5803

Nelms, S. E., Barnett, J., Brownlow, A., Davison, N. J., Deaville, R., Galloway, T. S., Lindeque, P. K., Santillo, D., & Godley, B. J. (2019). Microplastics in marine mammals stranded around the British coast: Ubiquitous but transitory? Scientific Reports, 9, Article 1075. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37428-3

Ory, N., Chagnon, C., Felix, F., Fernández, C., Ferreira, J. L., Gallardo, C., Garcés-Ordóñez, O., Henostrosa, A., Laaz, E., Mizraji, R., Mojica, H., Murillo Hairo, V., Ossa Medina, L., Preciado, M., Sobral, P., Urbina, M. A., & Thiel, M. (2018). Low prevalence of microplastic contamination in planktivorous fish species from the southeast Pacific Ocean. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 127, 211-216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.12.016

PlasticsEurope. (2019). Plásticos situación en 2018. Análisis de los datos sobre la producción, la demanda y los residuos de plásticos en Europa.

Retama, I., Jonathan, M. P., Shruti, V. C., Velumani, S., Sarkar, S. K., Roy, P. D., & Rodríguez-Espinosa, P. F. (2016). Microplastics in tourist beaches of Huatulco Bay, Pacific coast of southern Mexico. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 113(1-2), 530-535. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.08.053

Rocha-Santos, T., & Duarte, A. C. (2015). A critical overview of the analytical approaches to the occurrence, the fate and the behavior of microplastics in the environment. Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 65, 47-53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trac.2014.10.011

Rocha-Santos, T., Duarte, A. C. (2017). Characterization and analysis of microplastics. Comprenhensive analyticalc Chemistry.

Schnurr, R. E. J., Alboiu, V., Chaudhary, M., Corbett, R. A., Quanz, M. E., Sankar, K., Srain, H. S., Thavarajah, V., Xanthos, D., & Walker, T. R. (2018). Reducing marine pollution from single-use plastics (SUPs): A review. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 137, 157-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.10.001

Secretaría de Planificación y Programación de la Presidencia, Dirección de Ordenamiento Territorial. (2011). Plan de desarrollo integral del litoral del pacífico (Serie: Litoral del pacífico, Litoral 1). file:///C:/Users/Estudiante/Downloads/DLP%20(2).pdf

Silva, M. M., Maldonado, G. C., Castro, R. O., de Sá Felizardo, J., Cardoso, R. P., Dos Anjos, R. M., & Araújo, F. V. de. (2019). Dispersal of potentially pathogenic bacteria by plastic debris in Guanabara Bay, RJ, Brazil. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 141(4), 561-568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.02.064

Simon-Sánchez, L., Grelaud, M., Garcia-Orellana, J., & Ziveri, P. (2019). River deltas as hotspots of microplastic accumulation: The case study of the Ebro River (NW Mediterranean). Science of the Total Environment, 687, 1186-1196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.168

Wessel, C. C., Lockridge, G. R., Battiste, D., & Cebrian, J. (2016). Abundance and characteristics of microplastics in beach sediments: Insights into microplastic accumulation in northern Gulf of Mexico estuaries. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 109(1), 178-183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.06.002

Wright, S. L., Thompson, R. C., & Galloway, T. S. (2013). The physical impacts of microplastics on marine organisms: a review. Environmental Pollution, 178, 483-492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2013.02.031

Zhang, H. (2017). Transport of microplastics in coastal seas. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 199, 74-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2017.09.032

Zhang, K., Hamidian, A. H., Tubić, A., Zhang, Y., Fang, J. K. H., Wu, C., & Lam, P. K. S. (2021). Understanding plastic degradation and microplastic formation in the environment: A review. Environmental Pollution, 274(4), Article 116554 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116554