Recently, researchers have been examining the actual state of microplastics contamination in the environment. However, pollution in high biodiversity environments such as tidelands has not been sufficiently investigated. Therefore, to assess the actual level of microplastics pollution therein, we conducted a survey of the tidelands of Osaka Bay in Japan to develop a model that included basins in urban and suburban areas. We quantified the levels of microplastics in the mud from four of Osaka Bay's tidelands and detected them based on three inhabitants of the main river estuary tideland, namely, bivalves (Corbicula japonica), crabs (Chiromantes dehaani) and a tufted duck (Aythya fuligula). Microplastics ranging in size from 300 μm to 5 mm were targeted, and the results indicated that the concentration of microplastics in the mud tended to increase with tideland proximity to an urban area where the density of the human population was the highest. Microplastics were detected in 10% of the bivalves and 6.7% of the crabs (n = 30 in both cases), and eight pieces of microplastics were detected in the stomach of one tufted duck. These results indicate that the mud in tidelands near urban areas had more microplastics. In addition, the results suggest that microplastics contamination levels may be higher in higher order predators in the food web.

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日本西部大阪湾地区海涂中的微塑料污染

最近，研究人员一直在研究环境中微塑料污染的实际状态。但是，尚未对高生物多样性环境（如潮地）中的污染进行充分调查。因此，为了评估其中的微塑料污染的实际水平，我们对日本大阪湾的潮滩进行了调查，以开发出包括城市和郊区盆地在内的模型。我们对大阪湾四个潮区的泥浆中的微量塑料进行了定量，并根据主要河口潮汐带的三个居民（双壳类（Corbicula japonica），螃蟹（Chiromantes dehaani）和簇绒鸭子（Aythya fuligula）进行了检测。）。研究对象是尺寸范围从300μm至5 mm的微塑料，结果表明，随着潮汐带靠近人口密度最高的城市地区，泥浆中微塑料的浓度趋于增加。在10％的双壳类动物和6.7％的螃蟹 中检测到微塑料（在两种情况下，n = 30），并且在一只簇绒鸭子的胃中检测到八种微塑料。这些结果表明，市区附近海涂中的泥土具有更多的微塑性。此外，结果表明，食物网中高阶捕食者的微塑料污染水平可能更高。