Plastic debris in the open ocean
Andrés Cózar,Fidel Echevarría,J. Ignacio González-Gordillo,Xabier Irigoien,Bárbara Úbeda,Santiago Hernández-León,Alvaro T. Palma,Sandra Navarro,Juan García-de-Lomas,Andrea Ruiz,María L. Fernández-de-Puelles,Carlos M. Duarte +11 more
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TLDR
Using data from the Malaspina 2010 circumnavigation, regional surveys, and previously published reports, this work shows a worldwide distribution of plastic on the surface of the open ocean, mostly accumulating in the convergence zones of each of the five subtropical gyres with comparable density.Abstract:
There is a rising concern regarding the accumulation of floating plastic debris in the open ocean. However, the magnitude and the fate of this pollution are still open questions. Using data from the Malaspina 2010 circumnavigation, regional surveys, and previously published reports, we show a worldwide distribution of plastic on the surface of the open ocean, mostly accumulating in the convergence zones of each of the five subtropical gyres with comparable density. However, the global load of plastic on the open ocean surface was estimated to be on the order of tens of thousands of tons, far less than expected. Our observations of the size distribution of floating plastic debris point at important size-selective sinks removing millimeter-sized fragments of floating plastic on a large scale. This sink may involve a combination of fast nano-fragmentation of the microplastic into particles of microns or smaller, their transference to the ocean interior by food webs and ballasting processes, and processes yet to be discovered. Resolving the fate of the missing plastic debris is of fundamental importance to determine the nature and significance of the impacts of plastic pollution in the ocean.read more
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Microplastic in the stomachs of open-ocean and deep-sea fishes of the North-East Atlantic
João M. Pereira,Yasmina Rodríguez,Sandra Blasco-Monleon,Adam Porter,Ceri Lewis,Christopher K. Pham +5 more
TL;DR: The gut contents of 390 fishes belonging to three pelagic and two deep-sea species from the Azores archipelago, North-East Atlantic are investigated for microplastic contamination and it is revealed that pelagic species had significantly more microplastics than the deep-water species.
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Passive and Active Removal of Marine Microplastics by a Mushroom Coral (Danafungia scruposa)
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors studied how a species of mushroom corals (Danafungia scruposa), common in the Maldives, contributed to the removal of microplastics from the water suspension through active (ingestion) and passive (adhesion to the surface) mechanisms.
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Environmental implications of microplastic pollution in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean
TL;DR: The results indicate the heterogeneity in abundance, shapes, color, and sizes of MPs, which provides strong environmental implications such as sources, environmental degradation, residence time, transportation routes, and biological interactions.
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Regional differences in plastic ingestion among Southern Ocean fur seals and albatrosses.
TL;DR: It is confirmed that plastic is seldom found in the stomachs of Thalassarche albatosses off South Africa, but found no Diomedea albatrosses to contain plastic, compared to 26% off South America.
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Microplastics ingestion by blue panchax fish (Aplocheilus sp.) from Ciliwung Estuary, Jakarta, Indonesia
TL;DR: This research aims to assess microplastic ingestion by blue panchax fish (Aplocheilus sp.), and finds that the fish has difficulty in distinguishing between their food and the microplastics.
References
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Microplastics in the marine environment
TL;DR: The mechanisms of generation and potential impacts of microplastics in the ocean environment are discussed, and the increasing levels of plastic pollution of the oceans are understood, it is important to better understand the impact of microPlastic in the Ocean food web.
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Lost at sea: where is all the plastic?
Richard C. Thompson,Ylva S. Olsen,Richard P. Mitchell,Anthony Davis,Steven J. Rowland,Anthony W. G. John,Daniel F. McGonigle,Andrea E. Russell +7 more
TL;DR: It is shown that microscopic plastic fragments and fibers are also widespread in the marine environment and may persist for centuries.
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TL;DR: Model calculations and experimental observations consistently show that polyethylene accumulates more organic contaminants than other plastics such as polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride, and PCBs could transfer from contaminated plastics to streaked shearwater chicks.