TY - JOUR
T1 - Analysis of microplastics in wetland samples from coastal Ghana using the Rose Bengal stain
AU - Gbogbo, Francis
AU - Takyi, James Benjamin
AU - Billah, Maxwell Kelvin
AU - Ewool, Julliet
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
PY - 2020/4/1
Y1 - 2020/4/1
N2 - The use of optical microscope remains the most commonly used technique for microplastic identification and quantification despite major limitations with misidentifications and biases. We evaluated the use of the 1% Rose Bengal stain in improving the identification of microplastics after a standard microplastic isolation process. The stain discriminated organic materials from potential microplastics with significant differences between numbers observed before (6.65 ± 5.73) and after staining (2.91 ± 3.43). Numbers of potential microplastics observed under the conventional method (without staining) in sediment, feacal matter of shorebirds and the lagoon water were respectively 3.55 g−1, 0.8 g−1 and 0.13 ml−1 but reduced to 1.85 g−1 of sediment, 0.35 g−1 of feacal material and 0.09 ml−1 of water after staining. Colour composition of potential microplastics under the conventional method was brown (31.0%), black (26.5%), white (20.2%), translucent (16.7%) and red (5.6%). After staining, brown (49,2%), black (30.5%) white (2.3%) and translucent (18.0%) were retained but distinction could not be made between stained organic items and red-coloured microplastics. It was clear that the stain has the potential in improving microplastic identification but requires further investigations.
AB - The use of optical microscope remains the most commonly used technique for microplastic identification and quantification despite major limitations with misidentifications and biases. We evaluated the use of the 1% Rose Bengal stain in improving the identification of microplastics after a standard microplastic isolation process. The stain discriminated organic materials from potential microplastics with significant differences between numbers observed before (6.65 ± 5.73) and after staining (2.91 ± 3.43). Numbers of potential microplastics observed under the conventional method (without staining) in sediment, feacal matter of shorebirds and the lagoon water were respectively 3.55 g−1, 0.8 g−1 and 0.13 ml−1 but reduced to 1.85 g−1 of sediment, 0.35 g−1 of feacal material and 0.09 ml−1 of water after staining. Colour composition of potential microplastics under the conventional method was brown (31.0%), black (26.5%), white (20.2%), translucent (16.7%) and red (5.6%). After staining, brown (49,2%), black (30.5%) white (2.3%) and translucent (18.0%) were retained but distinction could not be made between stained organic items and red-coloured microplastics. It was clear that the stain has the potential in improving microplastic identification but requires further investigations.
KW - Colour
KW - Identification
KW - Method
KW - Organic materials
KW - Quantification
KW - Sediment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85080945591&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10661-020-8175-8
DO - 10.1007/s10661-020-8175-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 32128624
AN - SCOPUS:85080945591
SN - 0167-6369
VL - 192
JO - Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
JF - Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
IS - 4
M1 - 208
ER -