Gammelgaard Johnsen (duckmother24)

Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in 2011, some marine radionuclide monitoring studies report a lack of evidence for contamination of Japanese coastal waters by U and Pu, or state that marine contamination by them was negligible. Nevertheless, Fukushima-derived U and Pu were reported as associated with Cs-rich microparticles (CsMPs) found in local soil, vegetation, and river/lake sediments. Over time, CsMPs can be transported to the sea via riverine runoff where actinides, as expected, will leach. We recommend establishing a long-term monitoring of U and Pu in the nearshore area of the Fukushima Prefecture using marine bivalve mollusks; shells, byssal threads and soft tissues should all be analyzed. Here, based on results from Th biosorption experiments, we propose that U and Pu could be present at concentrations several times higher in shells with a completely destroyed external shell layer (periostracum) than in shells with intact periostracum. Microplastic ingestion by intertidal fauna is a well-documented phenomenon, with emphasis on the physiological consequences of microplastic exposure. However, the behavioural effects of microplastic ingestion have not been explored to the same degree, even in species with documented microplastic ingestion. In this study, the predator-avoidance emergence response of Littorina littorea was assessed and related to microplastic levels within the samples. This is a novel approach to microplastic behavioural experiments, whereby current environmental L. littorea microplastic levels are assessed, rather than levels vastly in excess of those recorded under field conditions. The results showed no difference in emergence likelihood or emergence latency related to microplastic abundance, sex, or treatment. However, L. littorea size did have a significant effect on emergence likelihood and emergence latency, with smaller individuals emerging faster and more frequently. This study shows that microplastics, at their current environmental levels, do not seem to affect L. littorea emergence behaviour. This review quantifies plastic interaction in marine biota. Firstly, entanglement and ingestion records for all marine birds, mammals, turtles, fish, and invertebrate species, are summarized from 747 studies. Marine debris affected 914 species through entanglement and/or ingestion. Ingestion was recorded for 701 species, entanglement was documented for 354 species. Secondly, the frequency of occurrence of ingestion per species (Sp-%FO) was extracted for marine birds, mammals and turtles. Thirdly, for seabird species, average numbers of plastics ingested per individual were determined. Highest Sp-%FO and average number of plastics were found in tubenosed seabirds with 41% of all birds analysed having plastics, on average 9.9 particles per bird. The Sp-%FO and average number of ingested particles is lower for most other species. However, for certain species, ingestion rates of litter are reason for serious concern. Standardized methods are crucial for future studies, to generate datasets that allow higher level ecosystem analyses. Blubber and muscle were collected from male bowhead whales (n = 71) landed near Utqiaġvik (Barrow), Alaska, between 2006 and 2015 and analyzed for lipid content and concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in order to determine levels and trends over the collection period. Collection year was a significant predictor of blubber concentrations for most classes of POPs, while for a few classes, animal length (proxy for age) was also a significant predictor. This is the first report on levels of PBDEs in bowhead whales; concentrations of these compounds are low (≤55 ng/g wet weight). Blubber concentrations were lower than those reported in samples collected between 1992 and 2000, and many POP classes in blubber declined significantly between 2006 and 2015. Concentrations of POPs in bowhead whale tissues, which are subsistence