Page - 120 - in Freshwater Microplastics - Emerging Environmental Contaminants?

Thequestionthenbecomes,not ifMPsarepresent,butwhereandhowtosample them. The marine and estuarine research conducted in South Africa provides a potential guide via beach combing,water and sediment collection, and biological sampling. However, such efforts may be difficult in the absence of personnel, apparatus, and, of course, funding. Thus, the study of Biginagwa et al. [16], exemplified in Case Study II, in whichMPs were extracted and identified from suitablebiological indicators that inhabit theurbanizedcatchmentarea isofferedas a model for research in other areas that can be conducted in a cost- and time- effectivemanner. TheconfirmationofMPs isonly thefirst step,albeitnecessaryfor furtherunder- standing of sources and fate. Mitigating the effects ofMPs requires the coming togetherofnumerous interestedstakeholders, not least the localpopulations. In the place where our species first evolved, it now falls on the current generation to preserveAfrica’s freshwaters for the future. References 1.Oppenheimer S (2012) Out-of-Africa, the peopling of continents and islands: tracing uni- parental gene trees across themap.PhilosTransRSocBBiolSci367:770–784.doi:10.1098/ rstb.2011.0306 2.Oppenheimer S (2009) The great arc of dispersal of modern humans: Africa to Australia. Quat Int 202:2–13. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2008.05.015 3.CrutzenPJ (2002)Geologyofmankind.Nature 415:23. doi:10.1038/415023a 4.SteffenW,Crutzen J,McNeill JR (2007)TheAnthropocene: are humansnowoverwhelming the great forces of nature? Ambio 36:614–621. doi:10.1579/0044-7447(2007)36[614: TAAHNO]2.0.CO;2 5.Zalasiewicz J,WilliamsM,HaywoodA, EllisM (2011) The anthropocene: a new epoch of geological time?PhilosTransAMathPhysEngSci369:835–841.doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0339 6.Hopewell J, Dvorak R, Kosior E (2009) Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities. PhilosTransRSocBBiol Sci 364:2115–2126. doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0311 7.Wright SL, Thompson RC, Galloway TS (2013) The physical impacts of microplastics on marine organisms: a review.EnvironPollut 178:483–492. doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2013.02.031 8.WagnerM, Scherer C, Alvarez-Mu~noz D, Brennholt N, Bourrain X, Buchinger S, Fries E, Grosbois C, Klasmeier J, Marti T, Rodriguez-Mozaz S, Urbatzka R, Vethaak A,Winther- NielsenM,ReifferscheidG(2014)Microplastics infreshwaterecosystems:whatweknowand whatweneed to know.EnvironSciEur 26:12. doi:10.1186/s12302-014-0012-7 9.Eerkes-MedranoD,ThompsonRC,AldridgeDC(2015)Microplastics in freshwater systems: a review of the emerging threats, identification of knowledge gaps and prioritisation of researchneeds.WaterRes 75:63–82. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2015.02.012 10.EriksenM,Mason S,Wilson S, Box C, Zellers A, EdwardsW, Farley H, Amato S (2013) Microplasticpollution in thesurfacewatersof theLaurentianGreatLakes.MarPollutBull77: 177–182. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.10.007 11.Faure F,CorbazM,BaecherH, deAlencastro L (2012) Pollution due to plastics andmicro- plastics inLakeGeneva and in theMediterraneanSea.ArchSci 65:157–164 12. ImhofHK, IvlevaNP,SchmidJ,NiessnerR,LaforschC(2013)Contaminationofbeachsedi- mentsofasubalpine lakewithmicroplasticparticles.CurrBiol23:R867–R868.doi:10.1016/j. cub.2013.09.001 120 F.R.Khanet al.