STUDY CONCERNING THE POLLUTION OF THE MARINE HABITATS WITH THE MICROPLASTIC FIBRES

摘要

Microplastic fibres pollution of the marine habitats is an environmental issue that extends and aggravates at the same time with the development of the plastic industry which recorded an increase of 9% per year, getting from a production of 1.7 million t in 1950 to 280 million t in 2011. Through the degradation process, the plastic wastes can deliver chemical substances in the sea being thus a threatening for both flora and fauna. At the same time, plastic particles absorb the persistent organic pollutants (POP) from the sea and after their assimilation; they transfer the toxic substances in the bodies of the sea animals, causing serious troubles in their growth or reproduction processes. The statistical analysis was intended to interpret and correlate the microplastic fibres pollution in the studied areas. In the performed tests using statistical methods such as ANOVA revealed that zoning beaches generates statistical variability, and using the Post-HOC Tukey test was performed the grouping of the analysed beaches on pollution levels and their comparison. The physical characteristics of the identified microplastic fibres were also determined, and it was obtained the volume of the microplastic fibres pollution from all the studied beaches. Afterwards, the quantity of pollution was correlated with the resulted volume, and the differences caused by the physical properties of the microfibers that were identified in the microscopic examination.