Poster Presentation SETAC Asia-Pacific Virtual Conference 2022

Healthy Lakes, Healthy Communities: Understanding Emerging Contaminants in Regional Waterways and Developing Strategies for Success (#206)

Nishat Nini Urmi 1 , Aaron Schultz 1
  1. Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, VIC, Australia

Globally, plastic production and consumption have increased in various industrial applications due to increased demands by human civilisation. Consequently, the mass of plastics including microplastics and nanoplastics released and accumulating in the environment is increasing, which can pose a significant threat to aquatic organisms and ecosystem health.  These pollutants have been widely distributed in our marine and freshwater ecosystems and are not easily bioremediated from the environment (Andrady 2017). Recent studies have demonstrated that microplastics can be ingested and accumulate in several aquatic animals and the ingestion of plastics by these organisms leads to obstruction of the oesophagus, intestine blockage, interrupted gastric secretions and appetite, reproductive complications and growth impairment (Derraik 2002; Tomás et al. 2002; Browne et al. 2008; Graham and Thompson 2009).

Lake Colac is located in southwest Victoria, Australia, and lay within the area bound by the town (Khan 2003). A large amount of water inflow into the lake comes from the town’s wastewater treatment facility, stormwater from the town and surrounding agricultural areas. The environment of Lake Colac and the residing species are, therefore, under threat because of these activities and land uses surrounding the lake (Khalifé, Gwyther & Aberton 2005).

This proposed research project will explore the presence of microplastics and plastic microfibres in the freshwater ecosystem of Lake Colac. This project aims to collect spatial and temporal water, sediment and biota samples (freshwater bivalves) from multiple locations at the lake and measure the microplastic levels in each of the samples. The freshwater bivalves will be used as a bioindicator species to identify the health of the Lakes ecosystem. Several biomarkers from various organisational levels will be analysed to determine the health of the freshwater bivalves. Overall, this project aims to assess the risk of plastic pollution to the health of freshwater environments in Australia.

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  2. Browne MA, Dissanayake A, Galloway TS, Lowe DM and Thompson RC (2008) 'Ingested Microscopic Plastic Translocates to the Circulatory System of the Mussel, Mytilus edulis (L.)', Environmental Science & Technology, 42(13):5026-5031, https://doi.org/10.1021/es800249a
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  4. Graham ER and Thompson JT (2009) 'Deposit- and suspension-feeding sea cucumbers (Echinodermata) ingest plastic fragments', Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 368(1):22-29, https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jembe.2008.09.007
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  6. Khan, T. A. (2003) ‘Limnology of four saline lakes in western Victoria, Australia: I. Physico-chemical parameters’, Limnologica, 33(4), pp. 316–326. doi: 10.1016/S0075-9511(03)80026-9.
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