title: Ingestion of microplastics by natural zooplankton groups in the northern South China Sea.
abstract: The ingestion of microplastics by five natural zooplankton groups in the northern South China Sea was studied for the first time and two types of sampling nets (505μm and 160μm in mesh size) were compared. The microplastics were detected in zooplankton sampled from 16 stations, with the fibrous microplastics accounting for the largest proportion (70%). The main component of the found microplastics was polyester. The average length of the microplastics was 125μm and 167μm for Nets I and II, respectively. The encounter rates of microplastics/zooplankton increased with trophic levels. The average encounter rate of microplastics/zooplankton was 5%, 15%, 34%, 49%, and 120% for Net I, and 8%, 21%, 47%, 60%, and 143% for Net II for copepods, chaetognaths, jellyfish, shrimp, and fish larvae, respectively. The average abundance of microplastics that were ingested by zooplankton was 4.1pieces/m3for Net I and 131.5pieces/m3for Net II.
authors.affiliation: Jiaozhou Bay Marine Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao 266071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Laboratory for Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266071, China. Electronic address: 975651359@qq.com.
authors.forename: Xiaoxia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Jiaozhou Bay Marine Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao 266071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Qingjie
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Jiaozhou Bay Marine Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
authors.forename: Mingliang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Jiaozhou Bay Marine Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
authors.forename: Junhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Jiaozhou Bay Marine Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Jiaozhou Bay Marine Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao 266071, China.
authors.forename: Yongfang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D033342:Copepoda; D004435:Eating; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D010969:Plastics; D012623:Seawater; D014873:Water Pollutants; D015048:Zooplankton
chemical_list: D010969:Plastics; D014873:Water Pollutants
keywords: Encounter rate; Ingestion; Microplastics; Northern region of the South China Sea; Zooplankton