Environmental processes and ecological effects of microplastics in the ocean

Abstract

There are no doubts that plastics problem in the ocean environment has become an increasingly worldwide focus in past several decades. A number of experts regard the plastic wastes as one of the hardest anthropogenic threats. The degraded items of large individual plastics lead to millions of microplstics (MPs) ultimately. As a result, the new pollution has appeared in the ocean. The ever-growing MPs have been detected in subtotal sea products, such as sea food and table salts. The MPs can bring potential health risk to people by enrichment in sea products. Furthermore, the economic development of offshore fishery and the marine tourism have been inhibited badly. This article will make a brief review on present studies about MPs in the ocean.