Leading Causes and Effects of Marine Pollution Research Essay Outline Create an Outline for your Research Essay (the three article is attached, the templat

Leading Causes and Effects of Marine Pollution Research Essay Outline Create an Outline for your Research Essay (the three article is attached, the template is there and also a sample)Use full sentences for thesis statement, topic sentences, and research onlyUse key words for all other contentCite all research usedInclude a reference list Environmental
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rsc.li/process-impacts
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Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts
Environmental Impact Statement
This review focuses on the release, abundance, and the biological impact of nano-sized plastic. Much
attention has been given to plastic in nature and lately micro-sized plastic. However, also nano-sized
plastic is released directly into nature, and, perhaps even more important, one can expect that the
break-down of plastic continues into the nano-sized range. Nano sized plastic will differ in many ways
from larger pieces of plastic due to the potentially very large surface area and the small size.
Therefore it is important to focus also on the the effect of nano-sized plastic. We review the small
number of exisiting publications of nano-sized plastic in regards of pollution, break-down
mechanisms, and the effect on aquatic organisms. We also identify important areas for further
studies and describes how these can be performed. Nano-sized plastic may introduce an enourmous
plastic surface area into nature. We believe it is very important to high-lght the need for more
knowledge of its effects.
Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts Accepted Manuscript
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Please  Science:
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Environmental
Processes
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Journal  Name  
 
ARTICLE  
Nano-­‐plastics  in  the  aquatic  environment    
a
b
K.  Mattsson  L-­‐A.  Hansson  and  T.  Cedervall
Received  00th  January  20xx,  
Accepted  00th  January  20xx  
DOI:  10.1039/x0xx00000x  
www.rsc.org/  
a  
The  amount  of  plastics  released  to  the  environment  in  modern  days  has  increased  substantially  since  the  development  of  
modern  plastics  in  the  early  1900s.  As  a  result,  concerns  have  been  raised  by  the  public  about  the  impact  of  plastics  on  
nature  and  on,  specifically,  aquatic  wildlife.  Lately,  much  attention  has  been  given  to  macro-­‐  and  micro-­‐sized  plastics  and  
their  impact  on  aquatic  organisms.  However,  micro-­‐sized  plastics  degrade  subsequently  into  nano-­‐sizes  whereas  nano-­‐
sized  particles  may  be  released  directly  into  nature.  Such  particles  have  a  different  impact  on  aquatic  organisms  than  
larger  pieces  of  plastic  due  to  their  small  size,  high  surface  curvature,  and  large  surface  area.  This  review  describes  the  
possible  sources  of  nano-­‐sized  plastic,  its  distribution  and  behavior  in  nature,  the  impact  of  nano-­‐sized  plastic  on  the  well-­‐
being  of  aquatic  organisms,  and  the  difference  of  impact  between  nano-­‐  and  micro-­‐sized  particles.  We  also  identify  
research  areas  which  urgently  need  more  attention  and  suggest  experimental  methods  to  obtain  useful  data.      
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Introduction    
Modern  plastic  was  developed  in  1907  and  mass  production  of  
plastic  started  as  early  as  the  1940s.  In  2012,  amount  of  plastic  
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produced  reached  280  million  tonnes    of  this  280  million  tonnes  
produced,  90%  was  low-­‐density  polyethylene  (LDPE),  high-­‐density  
polyethylene  (HDPE),  polypropylene(PP),  polyvinylchloride  (PVC),  
2
polystyrene  (PS)  and  polyethylene  terephalate  (PET)   .  Over  one  
third  of  this  amount  is  used  for  packing  products  like  plastic  bags  
and  another  third  is  used  for  housing  components  like  plastic  pipes  
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and  vinyl  cladding   .  An  astonishing  10%  of  the  produced  plastic  is  
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expected  to  end  up  in  the  oceans   ;  making  plastic  a  severe  and  
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potent  pollutant  for  aquatic  organisms   .    
Plastic  is  the  most  significant  marine  litter  in  the  world  constituting  
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between  60%  to  80%  of  the  total  marine  debris   .  Around  80%  of  
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the  plastic  litter  in  the  marine  environment  is  of  terrestrial  origin   ;  
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whereas  18%  is  attributed  to  the  fishing  industry   .  Hence,  when  
plastic  is  released  into  the  environment,  a  noticeable  amount  will  
end  up  in  the  aquatic  environment  where  it  is  degraded  into  smaller  
pieces  through  UV-­‐radiation,  mechanical  abrasion,  biological  
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degradation  and  disintegration   .  A  major  portion  (more  than  80%)  
of  the  plastic  litter  accumulates  in  open-­‐ocean  surface  waters  and  is  
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estimated  to  be  between  7.000  and  35.000  tonnes  in  total   .  The  
dominant  size  fraction  of  those  particles  is  less  than  10  mm  in  
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diameter   .  Over  70%  of  plastic  recovered  from  beaches  in  Portugal  
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 and  82%  of  the  collected  marine  debris  in  the  Tamar  Estuary  (UK)  
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 belonged  to  the  size  class  less  than  or  equal  to  5  mm  and  17%  of  
the  particles  collected  in  Tamar  Estuary  (UK)  were  smaller  than  1  
mm   .  In  freshwater  systems  most  of  the  detected  plastics  are  
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small,  below  5  mm   .  Another  source  of  micro-­‐plastic  is  consumer  
products,  such  as  facial  cleaners,  which  generally  pass  through  
sewage  systems  and  are  thereby  released  directly  into  lakes  and  
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oceans   .  Released  micro-­‐plastics  or  degraded  micro-­‐sized  plastics  
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are  in  the  size  suitable  for  ingestion  by  organisms   .  Shoreline  
debris  is  yet  another  source  of  plastic  exposure  to  aquatic  
organisms  and  as  much  as  50-­‐80%  of  the  shoreline  debris  is  plastic  
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.    
The  definition  of  micro-­‐plastic,  or  micro-­‐litter,  differs  between  
authors,  where  Arthur  et  al.,  as  well  as  The  National  Oceanic  and  
Atmospheric  Administration  (NOAA),  define  micro-­‐plastics  as  
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particles  smaller  than  5  mm  in  diameter   .  Costa  et  al.,  on  the  other  
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hand,  set  the  upper  limit  to  1  mm   .  The  most  commonly  used  
definition  is  that  micro-­‐plastic  particles  have  a  diameter  between  1  
and  5  mm,  whereas  particles  larger  than  5  mm  are  referred  to  as  
meso-­‐plastic.  Nanoparticles  are  defined  as  materials  with  at  least  
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two  dimensions  between  1  and  100  nm   .  The  amount  of  nano-­‐
sized  plastic  particles  in  the  aquatic  environment  is  not  known  since  
most  analytical  techniques  exclude  these  small  particles.  
The  degradation  of  plastic  into  smaller  pieces  changes  the  chemical  
and  physical  characteristics  of  the  plastic,  and  thereby  its  
availability  to  and  potentially  biological  impact  to  aquatic  organisms  
(Fig  1).  The  break-­‐down  processes  are  not  likely  to  stop  at  micro-­‐
size,  but  will  continue  to  produce  nano-­‐sized  plastic  which  will  differ  
from  both  the  original  material  and  from  micro-­‐plastic.  The  nano-­‐
sized  plastic  particles  will  have  a  high  surface  curvature  and  other  
surface  structures  will  be  small  compared  to  biological  surfaces  and  
molecules  altering  the  interactions  and  potentially  their  biological  
and  chemical  impact.  Most  importantly,  however,  is  that  the  
surface  area  for  a  nano-­‐sized  particle  will  be  enormous.  For  
example,  if  a  normal  plastic  shopping  bag  is  totally  transformed  into  
This  journal  is  ©  The  Royal  Society  of  Chemistry  20xx  
J.  Name.,  2013,  00,  1-­‐3  |  1    
Please  do  not  adjust  margins  
Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts Accepted Manuscript
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Please  Science:
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Environmental
Processes
& Impacts
ARTICLE  
Journal  Name  
particles  with  a  diameter  of  40  nm,  they  will  theoretically  expose  a  
2
surface  of  2600  m ;  enhancing  any  surface  effect.    
Nano-­‐materials  are  of  great  commercial  interest  in  industrial,  
technical,  medical,  pharmaceutical,  cosmetic  and  life  science  
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applications    and  the  effects  of  some  nano-­‐materials  are  well  
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studied  in  aquatic  systems,  for  example  TiO2    and  gold   .  
However,  the  number  of  studies  including  nano-­‐plastics  are  
surprisingly  few.  Therefore,  this  review  will  focus  on  comparing  
nano-­‐plastics  with  micro-­‐plastics  with  regards  to:    
1.  The  course  of  plastic  material  into  aquatic  environments    
2.  Methods  of  sampling  plastics  in  nature  
3.  Plastic  degradation    
4.  Biological  effect  on  aquatic  organisms    
5.  What  we  believe  are  the  important  knowledge  gaps  where  future  
studies  are  urgently  needed    
Plastics  in  the  aquatic  environment    
waters  from  the  North  Atlantic  subtropical  gyre  has  decreased  by  
almost  75%  between  1987  and  2012,  while  the  amount  of  user  
plastics  is  found  in  around  80%  of  collected  samples  without  any  
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changes  during  those  years   .  Plastic  particles  collected  on  beaches  
had  a  lower  density;  closer  to  the  density  of  common  consumer  
products  than  plastics  collected  in  gyres.  This  suggests  that  the  
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plastic  is  changing  as  they  reside  at  sea .    
In  European,  Asian  and  North  American  freshwater  systems  both  
primary  and  secondary  micro-­‐plastic  of  household  origin  have  been  
11,  31-­‐33
reported  
.  In  some  lakes  the  highest  amount  of  plastics  were  
found  close  to  highly  populated  areas,  industries  and  tourist  areas  
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.  Meanwhile,  high  amounts  of  plastics  have  also  been  detected  in  
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remote  areas    with  low  population  densities;  this  is  likely  a  result  
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of  long  water  residence  time  and  small  surface  area  of  the  lake   .    
Also,  sediment  samples  from  estuarine  shorelines  contain  high  
amounts  of  micro-­‐plastics  particles.  Of  these  micro-­‐plastic  particles,  
65%  are  fragments  originating  from  larger  plastic  pieces.  Half  of  
macro-­‐plastic  found  in  the  estuarine  shorelines  originated  from  
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single  use  packing  items   .        
Sampling  of  plastic  in  the  environment  
Sources  of  plastic  in  the  aquatic  environment    
There  are  two  main  sources  of  plastics  in  the  aquatic  environment;  
primary  particles,  i.e.  particles  manufactured  to  be  in  a  size  range,  
and  secondary  particles,  i.e.  particles  derived  from  larger  particles  
or  other  structures  (Fig.  1).  The  plastics  enter  oceans,  lakes  and  
rivers  through  solid  waste  disposal,  coastal  landfill  operations  and  
disposal  at  sea  of  solid  waste  from  individual  vessels.  Major  inputs  
of  plastics  come  from  ship  generated  litter,  litter  carried  to  the  sea  
by  rivers  and  municipal  drainage  system  and  litter  left  from  
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recreational  activities   ,  but  also  from  fishing  fleets  (plastic  fishing  
gear),  accidently  lost,  carelessly  handled,  or  land  based  sources  
(packing  material).  During  2010,  2.5  billion  metric  tonnes  solid  
waste  was  produced  by  93%  of  the  population.  Of  this  amount  275  
million  metric  tonnes  were  plastics,  and  the  estimated  amount  of  
plastic  ending  up  in  the  ocean  was  between  4.8  to  12.7  million  
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metric  tonnes   .  The  raw  material  for  production  of  plastics  is  resin  
pellets  which  often  are  cylinder-­‐  or  disk-­‐shaped.  These  pellet  
particles  are  released  into  the  environment  both  during  
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manufacturing  and  transport    via  waste-­‐water  discharge  from  
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plastic  production  or  plastic  processing  plants   .  They  are  
transported  to  the  oceans  through  surface  runoff,  streams,  and  
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river  waters  or  by  accidental  spillage  during  shipping   .  These  
particles  are  widely  distributed  in  the  oceans  and  found  on  beaches  
and  in  surface  waters  all  over  the  world  due  to  their  environmental  
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persistence   .  The  particles  generally  have  a  size  between  2  and  6  
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mm    and  are  found  both  in  remote  and  non-­‐industrialised  places  
and  near  important  industrial  centres.  The  highest  concentration  of  
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plastic  is  found  offshore  in  subtropical  ocean  gyres  
 where  the  
bulk  of  this  solid  waste  consists  of  material  used  to  package  food  
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and  other  products   .  The  abundance  of  industrial  plastic  in  surface  
There  are  five  major  methods  to  sample  plastic  debris;  beach  
combing,  marine  observational  surveys,  biological  sampling,  marine  
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trawls  and  sediment  sampling   .  Beach  combing  is  a  sampling  
method  in  which  an  individual  searched  the  shore  for  marine  debris  
and  terrestrial  litter.  Marine  observational  surveys  are  records  of  
visible  plastic  debris  as  reported  by  divers  and/or  boat  occupants.  
Thereby,  particles  of  micro-­‐meter  size  or  less  are  not  reported  
because  they  are  not  easily  traced  by  the  naked  eye.  When  using  
biological  sampling,  plastic  fragments  consumed  by  marine  biota  
are  investigated.  This  includes  marine  animals,  but  also  birds  that  
can  ingest  terrestrial  plastic  litter.  In  marine  trawling,  which  is  the  
most  common  way  to  study  plastic  in  the  aquatic  environment,  
particles  are  collected  from  surface  water  in  a  moving  boat  with  a  
net.  The  mesh  size  of  the  net  limits…
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