Catálogo de Investigaciones 2017-2018

CATÁLOGO DE INVESTIGACIONES | AÑO ACADÉMICO 2017-2018 129 Description of microplastics on the coast of La Guancha in Ponce, Puerto Rico Microplastics were first recorded in North America in marine plankton along the New England coast in the 1970s (Masura, 2015). Since then, they have been found in most large bodies of water such as oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers (Masura, 2015). This research aimed to describe which type and amount of microplastics are found on the coast of La Guancha, a tourist and port area, in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Two hundred meters were measured along the coast for field research. A quadrant was selected randomly for each 50 meters. Plastic particles were found, weighed on an analytical balance and then placed in sachets. After sampling the coast for 5 months, microplastics were classified into categories such as fragments, pellets, fibers and filaments. The most abundant category were the pellets, followed by fragments, filaments and finally fibers. In addition, the Kruskal-Wallis test was carried out, which showed that there is no significant difference between the amount of microplastics in the coast of La Guancha in Ponce, Puerto Rico and the sampling quadrants (p> 0.05). Therefore, microplastics were described in all the quadrants during the research period. The research findings are useful, given that microplastics pose as one of the most severe threats to the sustainability of sensitive habitats, ecology and oceans. dr. abner j. colón ortiz y karelys febles moreno ecorfan-bolivia journal june 2018 vol. 5 no. 8 24-32 fragments pellets fibers filaments