Urbanization Impacts on Microplastic in Benthic Organisms and Sediment of Small Islands

Indonesia is an archipelago country comprising thousands of islands, including small islands. Currently, small islands have experienced urbanization in the forms of land use developments and conversions from pristine ecosystems to settlements and tourism facilities, leading to the contamination of microplastics. Despite growing numbers of research on microplastic in water, there is still limited information about microplastic in the sediment and benthic, in particular in developed small island environments. This study compared the types of land use on the island from reserved areas, tourism, and settlement. The microplastics were characterized based on the shapes. The results confirm that land use types and development can impact the microplastics in sediment and benthic organisms. The orders of microplastic contents regarding the land use types were settlement > tourism > reserved areas. The orders of microplastic contents in sediment and benthic organisms regarding the shapes were fiber > fragment > film. The impacts of microplastics were measured using the Coefficient of Microplastic Impact (CMPI). According to the CMPI, settlement has been extremely impacted due to fibers. The result of this study encourages related stakeholders to immediately take precautions regarding the rapid development and conversion of land use in the pristine ecosystem of a small island.