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Metadata: Microplastic contamination data from mussels from the UK in 2022
Abstract:
This dataset records microplastic (MP) contamination in mussels from the UK (7 stations around England and Wales) collected in November 2022. Data includes MP load per mussel, recorded per individual and per gram of tissue wet weight. The dataset is split between six files: fluorescent items only (results per individual, results per gram, and a file describing each item collected e.g. clear filament, 100 microns long, polyethylene) and all items including non-fluorescent items (per individual, per gram, item description). Microlitter (ML) includes non-plastic items such as rubber and cellulose-based fibres. Mass was recorded as wet weight. Also included are text files for long format data used in analysis in R Studio. CleanAtlantic is an Interreg-funded initiative (2017 - 2023) with consortium partners from across Europe, including the UK, Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal. The initiative aimed to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Atlantic Area by improving capabilities to monitor, prevent and remove marine litter. The data here originated from work package: Mapping and modelling of marine litter, action 3: Indicators for ingestion and entanglement. CleanAtlantic was coordinated by CETMAR (Centro Tecnológico del Mar) and included 14 core partners and 4 associated partners. Cefas played a significant role, contributing to multiple work packages and research outputs. This data was collected for CleanAtlantic to determine whether mussels were a suitable sentinel species for microplastics in the North Atlantic. Fluorescent data was compared to mussels from France and Spain. `CleanAtlantic – CleanAtlantic project`_ .. _`cleanatlantic – cleanatlantic project`: https://www.cleanatlantic.eu/
Data holder:
Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS)
| Other details | ||
| Internal code | Internally assigned metadata identifier | 10115 |
| Title | The title is used to provide a brief and precise description of the dataset such as 'Date', 'Originating organisation/programme', 'Location' and 'Type of survey'. All acronyms and abbreviations should be reproduced in full. | Microplastic contamination data from mussels from the UK in 2022 |
| File Identifier | The File Identifier is a code, preferably a GUID, that is globally unique and remains with the same metadata record even if the record is edited or transferred between portals or tools. | CEFAS856641f5-81f1-48f0-867d-b2f01018acc4 |
| Resource Identifier | This is the code assigned by the data owner. | CEFAS22083 |
| Resource type | The resource type will likely be a dataset but could also be a series (collection of datasets with a common specification) or a service. | dataset |
| Start date | This describes the date the resource starts. This may only be the year if month and day are not known | 2026-04-19 |
| End date | This describes the date the resource ends. This may only be the year if month and day are not known | 2025-06-06 |
| Frequency of updates | This describes the frequency with which the resource is modified or updated i.e. a monitoring programme that samples once per year has a frequency that is described as 'annually'. | notPlanned |
| Abstract | The abstract provides a clear and brief statement of the content of the resource. | This dataset records microplastic (MP) contamination in mussels from the UK (7 stations around England and Wales) collected in November 2022. Data includes MP load per mussel, recorded per individual and per gram of tissue wet weight. The dataset is split between six files: fluorescent items only (results per individual, results per gram, and a file describing each item collected e.g. clear filament, 100 microns long, polyethylene) and all items including non-fluorescent items (per individual, per gram, item description). Microlitter (ML) includes non-plastic items such as rubber and cellulose-based fibres. Mass was recorded as wet weight. Also included are text files for long format data used in analysis in R Studio. CleanAtlantic is an Interreg-funded initiative (2017 - 2023) with consortium partners from across Europe, including the UK, Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal. The initiative aimed to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Atlantic Area by improving capabilities to monitor, prevent and remove marine litter. The data here originated from work package: Mapping and modelling of marine litter, action 3: Indicators for ingestion and entanglement. CleanAtlantic was coordinated by CETMAR (Centro Tecnológico del Mar) and included 14 core partners and 4 associated partners. Cefas played a significant role, contributing to multiple work packages and research outputs. This data was collected for CleanAtlantic to determine whether mussels were a suitable sentinel species for microplastics in the North Atlantic. Fluorescent data was compared to mussels from France and Spain. `CleanAtlantic – CleanAtlantic project`_ .. _`cleanatlantic – cleanatlantic project`: https://www.cleanatlantic.eu/ |
| Lineage | Lineage includes the background information, history of the sources of data, data quality statements and methods. | Mussels were collected as part of the Food Standards Agency's assessment of harmful algal blooms. Excess mussels were reserved for microplastic analysis. The mussel tissue was rinsed to remove external microplastic contamination and then digested in potassium hydroxide (15% KOH) and sodium hypochlorite (2% chlorine), sonicated for 5 minutes and then incubated in a shaker at 40 °C 120 revolutions per minutes for three days. Following this, 40 millilitres of degreaser (Elbow Grease) was added and incubated for a further day. Microplastics are extracted by filtering the solution over a GF/D (glass fibre) filter. Nile red dye was added and left for 30 minutes to stain the plastics so that they fluoresce. Under a binocular microscope microplastics were counted and categorised by shape, size and colour. Plastic polymers were identified using micro FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) comparing to polymer libraries (Attenuated Total Reflectance [ATR]-FTIR-library complete, volume 1-4; Bruker Optics ATR-Polymer Library; Infrared [IR]-Spectra of Polymers, Diamond -ATR, Geranium-AT & IR-Spectra of Additives, Diamond-ATR). Only matches above 60% were accepted. For quality control purposes, plastic standards were tested with the FTIR at the start of each analysis. Data was quality checked internally prior to publication. Lab procedural blanks were used to account for potential contamination during analysis. Linked below is data on macrofauna abundance on macrolitter samples, also collected as part of CleanAtlantic. Macrofauna abundance matrix for each taxa identified from litter samples, sorted by station. This is a combination of litter samples from the CEND 18/20 and CEND 06/21 CSEMP (Clean Safe Seas Environmental Monitoring Programme) surveys. The litter items are labelled with the station code and unique litter item and arranged in columns. The taxa names are listed in the rows. Corresponding abundance data for each taxa found on the litter item at that station is listed throughout the matrix. |
| Related keywords | ||
| Keyword | General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Mollusc |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Habitats and biotopes | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Unknown | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | Marine Environmental Data and Information Network | |
| General subject area(s) associated with the resource, uses multiple controlled vocabularies | data.gov.uk | |
| Geographical coverage | ||
| North | The northern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 52.4595 |
| East | The eastern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 1.74086 |
| South | The southern-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 52.4581 |
| West | The western-most limit of the data resource in decimal degrees | 1.73881 |
| Responsible organisations | ||
| Role | The point of contact is person or organisation with responsibility for the creation and maintenance of the metadata for the resource. | pointOfContact |
| Organisation name | Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) | |
| Delivery point | Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield Road | |
| Postal code | NR33 0HT | |
| City | Lowestoft | |
| Administrative area | Suffolk | |
| Country | UK | |
| data.manager@cefas.co.uk | ||
| Role | The originator is the person or organisation who created, collected or produced the resource. | originator |
| Organisation name | Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) | |
| Delivery point | Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield Road | |
| Postal code | NR33 0HT | |
| City | Lowestoft | |
| Administrative area | Suffolk | |
| Country | UK | |
| data.manager@cefas.co.uk | ||
| Role | The custodian is the person or organisation that accepts responsibility for the resource and ensures appropriate care and maintenance. If a dataset has been lodged with a Data Archive Centre for maintenance then this organisation is be entered here. | custodian |
| Organisation name | Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) | |
| Delivery point | Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield Road | |
| Postal code | NR33 0HT | |
| City | Lowestoft | |
| Administrative area | Suffolk | |
| Country | UK | |
| data.manager@cefas.co.uk | ||
| Role | The distributor is the person or organisation that distributes the resource. | distributor |
| Organisation name | Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) | |
| Delivery point | Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield Road | |
| Postal code | NR33 0HT | |
| City | Lowestoft | |
| Administrative area | Suffolk | |
| Country | UK | |
| data.manager@cefas.co.uk | ||
| Role | The owner is the person or organisation that owns the resource. | owner |
| Organisation name | European Commission | |
| info@publications.europa.eu | ||
| Resource locators | ||
| Locator URL | Web address (URL) that links to the resource | https://data.cefas.co.uk/view/22083 |
| Locator name | Name of the web resource | Cefas Data Portal |
| Dataset constraints | ||
| 20.1 Limitations on Public Access - Access constraints | This states `otherRestrictions` from ISO vocabulary RestrictionCode and is an INSPIRE/GEMINI requirement. | otherRestrictions |
| 20.2 Limitations on Public Access - Other constraints | noLimitations | |
| 21.1 Conditions for Access and Use - Use constraints | This states `otherRestrictions` from ISO vocabulary RestrictionCode and is an INSPIRE/GEMINI requirement. | otherRestrictions |
| 21.2 Conditions for Access and Use - Other constraints | https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ | |
| Version info | ||
| Date of publication | The publication date of the resource or if previously unpublished the date that the resource was made publicly available via the MEDIN network. | 2024-11-27 |
| Date of last revision | The most recent date that the resource was revised. | 2025-06-06 |
| Date of creation | The date that the resource was created. | 2024-11-27 |
| Harvest date | The date which this record has been (re)harvested from the provider. | 2026-04-19 |
| Metadata date | The date when the content of this metadata record was last updated. | 2025-06-06 |
| Metadata standard name | The name of the metadata standard used to create this metadata | MEDIN |
| Metadata standard version | The version of the MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard used to create the metadata record | 3.1.1 |