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      Risks of Covid-19 face masks to wildlife: Present and future research needs

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          Abstract

          The use of disposable face masks became essential to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in an unprecedented rise in their production and, unfortunately, to a new form of environmental contamination due to improper disposal. Recent publications reported the abundance of COVID-19-related litter in several environments, wildlife interaction with such items, and the contaminants that can be released from such protective equipment that has the potential to induce ecotoxicological effects. This paper provides a critical review of COVID-19 face mask occurrence in diverse environments and their adverse physiological and ecotoxicological effects on wildlife. It also outlines potential remediation strategies to mitigate the environmental challenge impose by COVID-19-related litter.

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          Life in the "plastisphere": microbial communities on plastic marine debris.

          Erik Zettler, Tracy J. Mincer, Linda A Amaral-Zettler (2013)
          Plastics are the most abundant form of marine debris, with global production rising and documented impacts in some marine environments, but the influence of plastic on open ocean ecosystems is poorly understood, particularly for microbial communities. Plastic marine debris (PMD) collected at multiple locations in the North Atlantic was analyzed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and next-generation sequencing to characterize the attached microbial communities. We unveiled a diverse microbial community of heterotrophs, autotrophs, predators, and symbionts, a community we refer to as the "Plastisphere". Pits visualized in the PMD surface conformed to bacterial shapes suggesting active hydrolysis of the hydrocarbon polymer. Small-subunit rRNA gene surveys identified several hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria, supporting the possibility that microbes play a role in degrading PMD. Some Plastisphere members may be opportunistic pathogens (the authors, unpublished data) such as specific members of the genus Vibrio that dominated one of our plastic samples. Plastisphere communities are distinct from surrounding surface water, implying that plastic serves as a novel ecological habitat in the open ocean. Plastic has a longer half-life than most natural floating marine substrates, and a hydrophobic surface that promotes microbial colonization and biofilm formation, differing from autochthonous substrates in the upper layers of the ocean.
          Article 0 comments Cited 675 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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            Microplastics: Finding a consensus on the definition

            J.P.G.L. Frias, Róisín Nash (2019)
            Polymer science is one of the most revolutionary research areas of the last century, instigated by the discovery of Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic. Plastic, once a revolutionary material, has gradually become a global environmental threat with ubiquitous distribution. The term 'microplastics' coined in 2004, is used to describe the smaller plastic particles recorded, however there is still no all-inclusive definition that accurately encompasses all criteria that could potentially describe what a microplastic is. Here, the authors focus on the currently reported methods for describing and identifying microplastics and propose a new definition that incorporates all the important descriptive properties of microplastics. This definition not only focuses on size and origin, but also considers physical and chemical defining properties. While this manuscript may promote debate, it aims to reach a consensus on a definition for microplastics which can be useful for research, reporting and legislative purposes.
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              COVID-19 pandemic repercussions on the use and management of plastics

              Joana Prata, Ana Luísa Patrício Silva, Tony Walker … (2020)
              Plastics are essential in society as a widely available and inexpensive material. Mismanagement of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a monthly estimated use of 129 billion face masks and 65 billion gloves globally, is resulting in widespread environmental contamination. This poses a risk to public health as waste is a vector for SARS-CoV-2 virus, which survives up to 3 days on plastics, and there are also broad impacts to ecosystems and organisms. Concerns over the role of reusable plastics as vectors for SARS-CoV-2 virus contributed to the reversal of bans on single-use plastics, highly supported by the plastic industry. While not underestimating the importance of plastics in the prevention of COVID-19 transmission, it is imperative not to undermine recent progress made in the sustainable use of plastics. There is a need to assess alternatives that allow reductions of PPE and reinforce awareness on the proper public use and disposal. Finally, assessment of contamination and impacts of plastics driven by the pandemic will be required once the outbreak ends.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Sci Total Environ
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Sci Total Environ
                Title: The Science of the Total Environment
                Publisher: Elsevier B.V.
                ISSN (Print): 0048-9697
                ISSN (Electronic): 1879-1026
                Publication date PMC-release: 17 June 2021
                Publication date (Print): 20 October 2021
                Publication date (Electronic): 17 June 2021
                Volume: 792
                Page: 148505
                Affiliations
                [a ]Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
                [b ]Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
                [c ]Mer Molécules Sante (MMS), Université Catholique de l'Ouest, 3 place André Leroy, BP10808, 49008 Angers CEDEX 01, France
                [d ]Catalan Institute for Water research (ICRA-CERCA), H2O Building, Scientific and Technological Park of the University of Girona, Emili Grahit 101,17003 Girona, Spain
                [e ]Water and Soil Quality Research Group, Department of Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), Jordi Girona18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
                Author notes
                [* ]Corresponding author.
                Article
                Publisher Item ID: S0048-9697(21)03577-4 Publisher ID: 148505
                DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148505
                PMC ID: 8217904
                PubMed ID: 34465061
                SO-VID: f19c2e0a-1ae6-4149-a296-bf68e26f98e4
                Copyright © © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
                License:

                Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.

                History
                Date received : 24 April 2021
                Date revision received : 8 June 2021
                Date accepted : 13 June 2021
                Categories
                Subject: Review

                ScienceOpen disciplines: General environmental science
                Keywords: disposable masks,microplastics,animal health,ecotoxicity,physiology
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: General environmental science
                Keywords: disposable masks, microplastics, animal health, ecotoxicity, physiology

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