Micro and nanoplastics in seas and oceans

Abstract

Seas and oceans suffer a serious pollution problem due to the presence of plastic waste that affects not only marine biota, but also human beings. Despite the abundant information on the presence of plastics in seas and oceans, there is still a lack of solid knowledge on the amount of plastics entering the marine environment. This situation is aggravated with respect to nano and microplastics, since most research has focused on macroplastics and easily accessible regions such as beaches. On the other hand, the lack of harmonization or standardization of methodologies, classifications and a functional definition of nano and microplastics does not allow the comparison of spatial and temporal data of the problem among the scientific community. The objective of this paper is to present the current state of research on nano and microplastics: definitions, sources, methodologies, ingestion, toxicity, habitat alteration and species introduction.