Sacrificial anodes are attached to the hulls of boats and marine structures to prevent corrosion. Their use inevitably leads to release of zinc as well as impurities in the zinc alloy such as cadmium to the saline environment. Risk assessments and source apportionment exercises require accurate assessments of the potential loads of chemicals into the environment. This research has surveyed a wide variety of zinc anodes for their composition to compare against a reported industry standard as well as using differing methodologies to determine the dissolution rate of zinc and cadmium from anodes. A zinc dissolution rate of 477 g/yr/kg of anode is proposed. Although most anodes tested had concentrations of cadmium within the prescribed limits set by the reported standard, calculated leaching rates from laboratory dissolution experiments suggested as much as 400 g per year of cadmium could leach from zinc anodes used on leisure vessels within UK waters.This paper presents the research landscape on microplastics and nanoplastics (M/NPs) in global food webs based on a bibliometric analysis of 330 publications published in 2009-2019 extracted from Web of Science. The publications increased tremendously since 2013. Marine Pollution Bulletin is one of the top productive journals for this topic. selleck compound The publication landscape related to M/NPs in global food webs, as interdisciplinary research, is highly dependent on the funding availability. The high productivities of England, China, USA and European countries are attributed to the funding from the agencies at regional or national levels. Keyword analysis reveals the shift of research hotspots from investigations on M/NPs absorbed by various organisms in the ecosystems to studies on the trophic transfer of M/NPs and sorbed contaminants in the food webs and their associated adverse impacts. Funding agencies play important roles in leading the future development of this topic.The study aimed to explore ontogenetic dietary changes and microplastic ingestion in Chelon richardsonii associated with diatom Anaulus australis accumulations in a warm temperate South African surf zone. This species is commercially important and forms an important trophic link in southern African coastal waters. Postflexion larvae, juveniles and adults are dominant in surf zones and were used for comparison. Index of Relative Importance (%IRI) results showed an ontogenetic dietary shift, with postflexion larvae ingesting mostly copepods (%IRI = 52.0) and microplastic fibres (%IRI = 30.7); while older developmental stages fed predominantly on diatoms (%IRI ranging from 53.9 to 65.6) and sand (%IRI ranging from 34.2 to 46.0). Microplastic fibres were found in 40% of fish sampled, microplastic fragments in 5%, and both types were recorded across all developmental stages assessed. This study provides the first record of microplastics in C. richardsonii, adding to growing microplastic research in fishes.Marine litter is recognized as one factor affecting coral health. It causes shading, bleaching, physical damage, necrosis, and mortality. This study provides the first evidence that direct contact by plastic and cotton affects coral health within 60 days. In a controlled aquarium experiment, two common Indo-Pacific scleractinian corals, Porites rus and Pavona cactus, were shaded for 60 days by transparent plastic (polypropylene, PP), dark plastic (PP) and cotton. Cotton disintegrated completely after 30 to 42 days, allowing the corals to recover. Transparent plastic became opaque over time due to microfouling, resulting in bleaching of the affected coral parts. Dark plastic had the strongest effect, including bleaching, necrosis and reduced growth within 60 days. Moreover, the two coral species responded differently to the treatments. This is the first report demonstrating that plastic and cotton litter can affect coral health and even cause partial mortality within 60 days.Sediment cores were analyzed from the continental shelf of the northwestern South China Sea aiming to understand the change history of primary productivity and provide insights into key changes of environmental conditions in this region over the past ~100 years. Multiple proxies including stable carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) of sedimentary organic matter, diatom abundance and biogenic silica burial flux were applied along with 210Pb chronology. Notably, these independent evidences consistently point to a steady increase of primary production in this region only after ~1960s. We propose that increasing atmospheric deposition due to dramatically enhanced human activities especially from China supplies essential nitrogen nutrients to the N-poor region and probably acts a major reason for the observed enhancement of marine primary production. Our study provides insights into better understanding how human perturbation may have profoundly impacted biogeochemical cycling in marginal seas in the last decades.Tidal flat is an important supplementary land resource. However, increasing tidal flat reclamation in China has resulted in severe environmental issues. Using single-metal pollution index and multi-metal Nemerow pollution index, this study aimed to evaluate the risks of heavy metal pollution among different tidal flat use types, including fish farm, farmland, pastoral land, industrial land, forest and unutilized land. The results indicated that, concentrations of all elements were higher than geochemical values; Cd posed the highest risk, followed by As and Ni. Fish farm created the highest risk, followed by farmland. Every one year increase in fish farming led to increases in sediment concentrations of Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, Zn and As by 0.73, 1.25, 0.68, 0.41, 1.22 and 0.20 mg.kg-1, respectively. Tidal flat reclamation in Jiangsu Province creates the risk of heavy metal pollution, and specific attention should be paid to the fodders and additives used in fish farming.Plastic debris is nowadays a well-recognized global threat to marine ecosystems, due to its increasing abundance and pervasiveness. Although the effects of marine plastics on animal wildlife is generally documented, the available studies of plastics affecting seagrasses and their associated biota are relatively scarce. This makes the degree of risk uncertain as regards seagrass ecosystems affected by plastic debris, but also it results in several critical knowledge gaps such as to what extent plastic debris can affect food webs supported by seagrasses. In the age of plastics, the Plasticene, the international political agenda shows great interest in this matter. However, to date, no conservation policies have specifically targeted the protection of seagrasses from plastics debris. Future actions should therefore move in two directions prompting a radical shift in plastics consumption, and shedding further light on plastics-biota interactions in the marine environment.