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DETERMINING MIROPLASTIC CONCENTRATIONS IN A WETLAND ENVIROMENT

Abstract

Microplastic pollution is a growing concern globally, as it quickly accumulates in natural systems and is found in practically every ecosystem worldwide. Wetland ecosystems are hydrologically unique and therefore act as sinks for microplastics, accumulating and storing large amounts of this micro pollutant. To determine microplastic concentrations in the Piedmont University wetlands, ten surface water and groundwater samples were sampled from the wetland environment, subsequently vacuum filtered and analyzed to determine the concentration of microplastics accumulated in two different environments with the wetland ecosystem. These samples were compared to ten tap water samples, which served as a control relative to natural waters. After analyzing the filtered samples, an ANOVA was performed on the 10 replicates per population and revealed that the concentrations of microplastic between sample types were significantly different (p < .001). A post-hoc analysis (put name of test here) further revealed that tap water and surface water showed no significant difference (p = 0.147), while groundwater was significantly different in microplastic concentrations from both tap and surface water (p < 0.001). This indicates that microplastics are a highly persistent pollutant, appearing even in tap water that was treated for domestic use. The high accumulation of microplastics in groundwater also provides further evidence for the ability of wetlands to become a microplastic sink, storing these pollutants long-term.

Acknowledgements

Piedmont University Natural Sciences Department

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