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Oceans
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Floating Microplastics in the World’s Oceans
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Floating Microplastics in the World’s Oceans

A special issue of Oceans (ISSN 2673-1924).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2024 | Viewed by 779

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Monique Mancuso

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Marine Biological Resources and Biotechnology (IRBIM), National Research Country (CNR), Messina, Spianata S. Raineri 86, 98122 Messina, Italy
Interests: microplastics; seawater; sediments; marine organisms; mediterranean sea antarctica; arctic
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The dispersion of plastics in the oceans is a global pollution problem that poses a great threat to the marine ecosystem. Mismanaged wastes are the main source of plastic entering marine environments worldwide. Once in the sea, they persist through centuries, going to fragmentation under the effect of photodegradation by UV radiations and the action of environmental mechanical forces, such as waves. This degradation process allows to the formation of smaller and smaller plastic pieces over time, up to microplastics (less than 5 mm in size). These small fragments persist in the environment, increasing the plastics’ bioavailability and dispersion due to their small dimension and chemical features. Microplastics are ubiquitous even if not uniformly distributed worldwide.

The purpose of this special issue is to bring together the scientific studies carried out on pollution by marine floating microplastics (MPs) all over the world. The main topics will be:

  • the source of pollution,
  • the type of microplastics in the different geographical areas,
  • the impacts on the water column and its inhabitants,
  • to discuss the latest techniques used by scientists,
  • to better understand the possible future consequences and the solutions to the problem. 

Dr. Monique Mancuso
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at mdpi.longhoe.net by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Oceans is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • microplastics
  • marine ecosystem
  • marine pollution

Published Papers (1 paper)

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31 pages, 1520 KiB  
Systematic Review
The Abundance of Microplastics in the World’s Oceans: A Systematic Review
by Judith Mutuku, Maria Yanotti, Mark Tocock and Darla Hatton MacDonald
Oceans 2024, 5(3), 398-428; https://doi.org/10.3390/oceans5030024 - 21 Jun 2024
Viewed by 283
Abstract
Microplastics are ubiquitous in marine environments and have been documented across all ocean compartments, especially surface waters, across the world. Even though several studies identify the presence of microplastics in the world’s five oceans, there remains an overt problem of large inconsistencies in [...] Read more.
Microplastics are ubiquitous in marine environments and have been documented across all ocean compartments, especially surface waters, across the world. Even though several studies identify the presence of microplastics in the world’s five oceans, there remains an overt problem of large inconsistencies in their sampling, extraction, and consequent quantification. Despite the complexity of these methodologies, researchers have tried to explore microplastic abundance in ocean surface waters. Using a systematic review approach, a dataset was derived from 73 primary studies undertaken since the year 2010 following the Oslo and Paris Conventions (OSPAR) guidelines to monitor and harmonise marine debris. The results showed differences in the abundance and distribution of microplastics in surface waters across oceans. The overall concentration of microplastics in all five oceans ranged between 0.002 and 62.50 items/m3, with a mean abundance of 2.76 items/m3. The highest mean concentration of microplastics was found in the Atlantic (4.98 items/m3), while the least was observed in the Southern Ocean (0.04 items/m3). While challenging, this paper recommends harmonisation of the sampling, separation, and identification methods across the globe to aid in the design of the appropriate mitigation strategies for reducing marine plastic pollution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Floating Microplastics in the World’s Oceans)
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