Scientists from the Department of Terrestrial Hydrology of the Faculty of Geography of Moscow State University Oksana Erina and Maria Tereshina concluded that lakes suffer more from plastic pollution than oceans. The results of the research were published in a scientific journal. Nature In the article “Plastic debris in lakes and reservoirs”.
In Russia, water samples were taken from the Mozhaisk reservoir for the project. The study was presented in an international project to investigate the factors affecting the plastic part content in lake and reservoir waters. Russian experts have discovered that the concentration of plastic in some freshwater lakes is higher than in “trash islands” found in the oceans.
During the project of the terrestrial water ecology and water management research group of the University of Milan Bicocca (Italy), 38 lakes and reservoirs were studied in 23 countries of the world. The geography of the study was created under the auspices of the international limnology association GLEON, a global network for lake ecology studies. The Mozhaisk reservoir was the only Russian body of water for which water samples were studied in the project.
The number, size and polymer composition of microplastic particles detected in selected water samples using Raman microspectroscopy method were determined. The most common were pieces of polyester, polypropylene and polyethylene. The highest concentrations of plastic were found in lakes Lago Maggiore (Italy), Lugano (Switzerland-Italy), Tahoe (USA) and Loch Neagh (England). Many of the most polluted lakes are both sources of drinking water and recreational facilities.
In addition to its negative impact on human water use, plastic pollution has a detrimental effect on aquatic life and the life of lake ecosystems. Plastic accumulating on the surface of lakes can contribute to the release of methane and other greenhouse gases. “The presence of plastic can affect biogeochemical cycles, leading to an increase in fluxes of other pollutants deposited on its particles between water, air, soil and living organisms,” said Maria Tereshina, a graduate student in the Department of Terrestrial Hydrology at the Faculty of Medicine. Geography, Moscow State University.
Despite the fact that the plastic content in the lake water is strongly related to the degree of anthropogenic impact, the presence of some types, especially synthetic fabric fibers, was found even in the waters of lakes in protected areas. “The results of the study show that plastic pollution in freshwater is global. “Lakes can be thought of as buffer zones in which plastic stays, accumulates and transforms before it reaches the World Ocean,” said Oksana, Head of the Laboratory of River Hydrology and Water Resources of the Moscow State Faculty of Geography. University and Moscow State University Krasnovidovskaya Educational and Scientific Station Erina.
ancient scientists came withHow to assess the state of water bodies using yeast.