Modelling microplastic bioaccumulation and biomagnification potential in the Galápagos penguin ecosystem using Ecopath and Ecosim (EwE) with Ecotracer
Fig 3
BCE model microplastic concentration over time and trophic level.
(A) Bioaccumulation simulations using the EwE Ecotracer routine, showing the projections of microplastics (MPs) bioaccumulation in the BCE model under the baseline scenario where seawater initial concentrations = 0.00411 t/km2. The simulations for the bioaccumulation include the elimination rates based on the literature. For zooplankton, as the key trophic level for the initial uptake of microplastics, the ingestion rate of microplastics and anthropogenic particles by zooplankton (i.e., 7.38x10-7 g/kg/day) was used, based on [79]. (B) Linear regressions showing the significant relationship between predicted concentrations of microplastics (log-transformed data) and trophic levels in the BCE model at year 100. The antilog of the regression slope was used to determine TMF.