INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE ON THE UPTAKE, RETENTION, AND TROPHIC TRANSFER OF MICROPLASTICS IN BENTHIC COMMUNITIES

Microplastics are a ubiquitous pollutant that has emphasized major concern for several benthic ecosystems and for the species that inhabit them especially as temperatures have begun to warm at an exponential rate. This study has investigated the abundance and trophic transfer intensity of microplastics through exposure experimentation to two different benthal organisms, the stone crab (Menippe mercenaria) and hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria), under three different temperature gradients. Within a laboratory setting, hard clams were exposed to a concentration of different sizes and types of microplastics in three different temperatures to observe the accumulation rate of these particles from direct ingestion. The exposed clams were then fed to predatory stone crabs from the Indian River Lagoon, under the same three temperature treatments, to detect MP trophic transfer. To examine the disposition of ingested plastics, histology and fluorescent microscopy were used to quantify the locations and numbers of microplastics in the tissues.