Presence, distribution and characterization of microplastics in commercial organisms from Adriatic Sea The presence of microplastics in the marine environment has raised scientific interest particularly during the last decade. Several organisms can ingest microplastics with potentially adverse effects on the digestive tract, respiratory system and locomotory appendages [1]. Howev er, a clear evidenc e of tissue accumulati on and trans fer of such microparticles in wild organisms is still lacking, partially hampered by technical difficulties in isolation and c haracterization protocols from biological samples [2]. Site Living habitat Species N. of analyzed organis ms Anc ona Pelagic S. pilchardus 19 S. s combrus 14 Bentho-pelagic M. merluccius 13 Benthonic M. barbatus 16 S. mantis 6 Civitanova Pelagic S. pilchardus 19 S. s combrus 7 Bentho-pelagic M. merluccius 18 Benthonic M. barbatus 19 S. mantis 6 Fish and mantis shrimp were collected from two sites l ocated along the Marche coast about 2 nautical miles from the coast (Fig. 1). Organisms from the two sites were sampled in the same day using gill nets. Gastrointestinal tracts of fish and whole soft tiss ue of i nvertebrates, wer e diss ected and stored at -20°C until the analysis. A recently validated extraction protocol [3] was applied to extract microplastics from organisms tissues. Extracted particles were characterized in term of size, shape and polymer typology (Fig. 2). 1. Evaluate t he presence, distribution and c haracterization of microplastics in several commercial species, including both vertebrates and invertebrates fr om the Central of the Adriatic sea. 2. Evaluate different susceptibility to microplastics ingestion in different marine species. Avio Carlo Giacomo, Gorbi Stefania, Berlino Manuel, Regoli Francesco Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente (DiSVA), Università̀ Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy Results Water column S ediments Squilla mantis Fig. 1: Sampling Area Fig. 2: Extraction protocol Investigated area and extraction protocol 1. Microplastics items were mostly represented by fragments and film, while PE, PS and PA were the dominant polymers. 2. 45% of analysed organisms were positive to microplastics ingestion. 3. Invertebrates typically exhibited a lower frequency of microplastics in soft tissue in respect to the stomach of fish, but with a higher potenti al of particles transfer to human consumers. In conclusion this study provided new insights on the presence, distribution and typology of microplastics in commercial organisms, representing an important baseline assessment on the level of this kind of contamination in Adriatic biota. Discussion and conclusions Introduction Aims Materials and methods Size frequency (%) 3% 36% 35% 26% 1-5-mm 0,5-1 mm 0,1-0,5 mm <0,1 mm Shape frequency (%) 11% 7% 2% 80% Fragment Pellet Line Film Typology frequency (%) 9% 1% 2% 2% 3% 31% 52% PE PS PP PVC BIO PVA PA OVERALL FT-IR SPECTRA REFERENCES [1] Wright et al., 2013. Enviro nmenta l Pollution 178, 483-92. [2] Cole et al., 201 3. Enviro nmenta l Science & Technology, 47, 6646-55. [3] Avio et al., 2015. Mar ine Env iro nmenta l Research, 111, 18-26. W A T E R C O L U M N Pelagic species exhibits higher level of ingested items compared to benthic organisms. Size frequency (%) 0 25 50 75 100 S. pilchardus S. scombrus M. merluccius M. barbatus S. mantis 1 - 5 mm 0,5 - 1 mm 0,1 - 0,5 mm < 0,1 mm Typology frequency (%) 0 25 50 75 100 S. pilchardus S. scombrus M. merluccius M. barbatus S. mantis PE PS PP PVC BIOPLASTIC PVA PA Microplastics in gastrointestinal tract S. pilchardus S. scombrus M. merluccius M. barbatus S. mantis 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 Benthic specimens ingest microplastics with smaller grain size. No particular differences occur in term of polymer typology between species, except for Squilla mantis. Shape frequency (%) 0 25 50 75 100 S. pilchardus S. scombrus M. merluccius M. barbatus S. mantis Fragment Pellet Line Film No particular differences occur in term of particles shape between analysed species. [email protected] t