{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T19:27:35Z","timestamp":1788550055449,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,12]],"date-time":"2025-03-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1741737600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["42067051"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["42067051"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["GHYF2025003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GHYF2025003"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"nternational Science &amp; Technology Cooperation Program of Hainan Province","award":["42067051"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["42067051"]}]},{"name":"nternational Science &amp; Technology Cooperation Program of Hainan Province","award":["GHYF2025003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["GHYF2025003"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Toxics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>China is facing increasing marine microplastic pollution. Despite the fact that the South China Sea is the largest marine area in China, the ecological danger and present state of microplastic contamination in this region have not been systematically and comprehensively investigated. This study analyzed the abundance, distribution, and characteristics of microplastics in different environmental media and biological samples from the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea, and then the ecological risk assessment of microplastic pollution in this area was conducted. The findings indicated that the quantities of sediments, soil, water, fish, and birds were 41.56 \u00b1 19.12 items\/kg, 92.94 \u00b1 111.05 items\/kg, 2.89 \u00b1 1.92 items\/L, 2.57 \u00b1 2.12 items\/ind, and 1.702 \u00b1 1.50 items\/ind, respectively. By evaluating the pollution load index (PLI), polymer hazard index (PHI), and potential ecological risk index (PERI), the PLI of the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea as a whole indicated that the hazard level was slightly polluted, the PHI was at a high-risk level, and the PERI samples were at no risk, except for the soil and seawater, which were at a medium-risk level.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/toxics13030205","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,13]],"date-time":"2025-03-13T04:18:32Z","timestamp":1741839512000},"page":"205","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Microplastic Pollution and Its Ecological Risks in the Xisha Islands, South China Sea"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Wenchao","family":"Wei","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Hainan Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Haikou 571127, China"},{"name":"College of Resources & Environment of Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yun","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hainan Medical University\u2014The University of Hong Kong Joint Laboratory of Tropical Infectious Diseases, Key Laboratory of Tropical Translational Medicine of Ministry of Education, School of Basic Medicine and Life Sciences, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Licheng","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hainan Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Haikou 571127, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiao","family":"Xing","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hainan Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Haikou 571127, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jun","family":"Xiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hainan Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Haikou 571127, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yuquan","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hainan Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Haikou 571127, China"},{"name":"College of Life and Environmental Science, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qifei","family":"Peng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hainan Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Haikou 571127, China"},{"name":"College of Life and Environmental Science, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yongfu","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hainan Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Haikou 571127, China"},{"name":"School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yufeng","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hainan Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Haikou 571127, China"},{"name":"College of Life and Environmental Science, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha 410004, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yini","family":"Ma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ling","family":"Mo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Hainan Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Haikou 571127, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"131","DOI":"10.1016\/j.envres.2008.07.025","article-title":"Synthetic polymers in the marine environment: A rapidly increasing, long-term threat","volume":"108","author":"Moore","year":"2008","journal-title":"Environ. 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