Captive dolphins face higher levels of microplastic pollution than wild individuals

Traditional research on microplastics in cetaceans has largely overlooked extraction methods and their presence in multiple tissues. This study compared 14 methods using tissue degradation rate, plastic recovery rate, membrane permeability, and aging indicators, providing a reliable framework for extracting microplastics from multiple tissues of cetaceans (T4). This method was used to determine the characteristics of microplastic contamination in four tissues of wild and captive tropical spotted dolphins, indicating that the abundance of microplastics is higher in captive individuals, but the diversity is greater in wild individuals. This document provides data on the comparative methods and characteristics of microplastic pollution in multiple organizations. The relevant data can be found in the corresponding named cells for the content of interest.