Abundance and distribution of microplastics in Baturusa watershed of Bangka Belitung Islands Province

Abstract

Microplastics has been found in the most water bodies since 1970s, yet its presence and understanding about the existence on the freshwater body, as well as a control upon its abundance is still very limited. Whereas the river became a very potential channel for microplastics in contaminating the environment. Microplastics is term refer to plastic particles which diameter less than 5 mm. Microplastics could act as an absorbent of chemicals from the environment, and also a carrier of additive chemicals added during the process of plastic manufacturing to the organisms. It can potentially affect the organisms through the aquatic food web. This study aims to figure out the abundance and distribution of microplastics in Baturusa watershed. The research was carried out from November 2019 to August 2020. Samples were collected using plankton net of 30μm mesh size, from seven sites represent upstream, downstream, and tributaries, then analyzed using an ocular microscope. The microplastics particles type found are sheets, films, fibers, and fragments. The average microplastics abundance was 2209–5569 particles m−3, the highest abundance was found in Rangkui River estuary about 5647 particles m−3, and the lowest was in Selindung River. This reveals that the more abundance of microplastics in the waters was correlated to the more human activities surroundings.