The constantly growing production of synthetic materials and their presence in the environment gradually transform our Blue Planet into the Plastic One. Microplastics (MPs) enlarge significantly their surface during fragmentation processes. Undoubtedly, nanoplastics (NPs), emerging contaminants, and the Plastisphere, the total available surface of debris, are currently on the edge of science. Although a few research are dedicated to the analysis of MPs and NPs from the physical and chemical point of view, there is a lack of the correlation between the material characterization and the microbiological data. The ecological approach, covering the description of numerical antibiotic or metal resistance bacteria, dealing with toxicological issues or biodegradation, is of great importance. This paper creates the bridge between the material science approach and the eighth continent (as sometimes Plastisphere is called). It points out that the Plastisphere significance will grow within the coming years and it should not be regarded as one ecological niche, but a set of different ones. As the properties mainly depend on the surface morphology, its numerical characterization will be the base for the classification purposes to better describe and model this phenomenon. Apart from concerning the currently important issues of NPs and the Plastisphere, this paper presents the emerging area of research namely the numerical approach to their characterization. This proposal of an interdisciplinary approach to the classification of the Plastisphere's types might be interesting for the members of different scientific communities: nanotechnology, material science and engineering, chemistry, physics, ecology, microbiology, marine microplastics or picture analysis.

Fisheries activities for supplying marine productions were excessively overwhelming. Furthermore in the competitive industrialization, the impact on marine ecosystems and fisheries resources are severe due to the increase of various seabed litter such as plastic materials, styrofoam and plastic bottles and the deterioration of the marine environment. Despite these seriously situation, very few studies of some sea of Korea have been carried out on sedimentary waste fishing. Also some fisheries and there are few reports on plastics present on the seabed of around Korea. This study investigated the distribution of seabed litter collected from the seabed and characteristics of each area by using the trawl gear of the survey vessel from February to November 2018. The weight of all seabed litter collected during the investigation was 62,541.5 kg km–², with a range of 0.2–15,019.7 kg km–². The most amount of seabed litter was collected from sea block 106 in the South Sea, followed by sea blocks 76 and 82 in the East Sea. Through this study, which was conducted for the first time in all sea in around Korea, it can be used as basic data to understand the current status of seabed litter in the seabed and to establish effective policies at the led by the government.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Livestock wastewater is a valuable vein of resources for the production of reused water, renewable energy, and fertilizers. This review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding on the opportunities and challenges to anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) for livestock wastewater treatment and resource recovery. RECENT FINDINGS: AnMBRs that integrates a membrane filtration process with anaerobic digestion exhibit high promise for livestock wastewater treatment and resource recovery. Organic matter in livestock wastewater can be biodegraded for the production of methane-rich biogas and bioactive substances, such as phytohormones, free amino acids, vitamins, and inorganic nutrients (e.g. ammonium and phosphate). Thus, the AnMBR effluent from livestock wastewater treatment can be potentially used for direct irrigation and processed for nutrient capture, for example, by struvite crystallization. Nevertheless, there remain several technical challenges to AnMBR development for livestock wastewater treatment. These mainly include digester susceptibility to inhibitory substances, low removal of antibiotics and heavy metals, and membrane fouling. Thus, recent studies have proposed several potential approaches to address these challenges to accelerate AnMBR development. These approaches can be largely classified as wastewater regulation, microbial acclimatization, process optimization, and amender addition. In this paper, we critically reviewed the performance of AnMBR for livestock wastewater treatment with respective to biogas production and contaminant removal. Key technical challenges and their potential countermeasures were delineated to shed light on further development of AnMBR in the field.

The discharge of ballast water from ocean-going ships is a major pathway by which invasive species are introduced into coastal waters. As a global factory and trade power with extensive shipping networks, China has paid a huge ecological price for its progress. However, current endeavors to protect the nation's biodiversity are largely focused on terrestrial ecosystems. Therefore, for the first time, we conducted a comprehensive risk assessment of ballast water-induced biological invasion in Chinese ports. The results showed that the ports in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Southern Taiwan Province face significantly high invasion risks, and the number of donor ports, connected ships, and arriving vessels showed a positive correlation with the invasion risk. Further, we observed that even a low efficacy disinfection of ballast water can still significantly decrease the level of invasion risk.

Intense human use and high construction density in coastal areas are stressors to sandy beaches. Pollution by marine debris is a major problem on beaches worldwide. This study pioneered an assessment of marine debris characterization over time on beaches with different levels of access. In two periods and seasons, marine debris was sampled on nine sandy beaches of Rio de Janeiro, grouped by levels of access. The general marine debris density has decreased over time, accompanied by an improvement in public cleaning mechanisms. The most important predictor for the majority of marine debris items is related to accessibility; beaches with restricted access showed a reduction in the abundance of most items. High marine debris densities, even on beaches with restricted access, showed that all evaluated beaches can be sinks for marine debris circulating in marine waters. Beach cleaning strategy improvements will be inefficient unless integrated marine debris management is implemented.

The hydrothermal products of the Clam hydrothermal field from the Okinawa Trough were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry to determine abundances of hydrocarbons. The n-alkanes in the hydrothermal products conformed to a bimodal distribution and exhibited an odd-to-even predominance of high molecular weight and an even-to-odd predominance of low molecular weight n-alkanes with maxima at C₁₆ and C₁₈. The total concentration of n-alkanes in hydrothermal sediment was much higher than that in hydrothermal sulfide and altered rock. The carbon isotopic value of individual n-alkanes in hydrothermal sediment was slightly higher than that in pelagic sediment. The concentrations and individual carbon isotopic compositions of n-alkanes suggest that the n-alkanes in hydrothermal products may be mainly the result of the metabolic activity of submarine microorganisms. Additionally, the present results suggest that the abiogenic contribution to source of hydrocarbons in hydrothermal products of the Clam hydrothermal field from the Okinawa Trough should not be ignored.

Passive acoustic recorders were deployed over two years (February 2018–March 2020) in the Salish Sea to monitor the underwater soundscape. Seasonal cycles and differences between the open Strait of Juan de Fuca and protected inner waterways were pervasive during this period. A comparison between natural and human-derived noise demonstrated the impact of anthropogenic activities on the sound field. Elevated ambient noise levels during winter resulted predominantly from greater sea states and storm events. Abiotic additions were defined through correlations to wind speed, wave and precipitation measures. Vessel noise was a pervasive anthropogenic addition; commercial vessel noise was consistently present, whereas smaller vessels showed weekly and diurnal patterns, especially during the summer when their presence increased. A better understanding of the different soundscape constituents, and when each dominates, is crucial to understanding the human impact on underwater ecosystems and the organisms within them, leading to more effective mitigation measures.

The awareness of impact of microplastics has led stakeholders to define strategies for the reduction of plastic emission and for their removal from aquatic environments. Glitter includes a wide range of shapes, chemical types of plastics covered by a metallic layer and color addition that confer them the typical ‘sparkling’ aspect. Here we focus on critical aspects that make glitter a product with a potential of significant environmental impact suggesting the need to take effective measures to limit emissions. Glitter is used here as a paradigm for all emergent plastic pollutants which calls for a deeper rethinking of our concept of sustainability. We are only at the beginning of the studies on glitter in the aquatic environment but on the basis of their potential impacts now is the time to take decisions taking the sparkle off the sparkling time.