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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Journal ArticleDOI
Microplastics in sea surface waters around Scotland.
Marie Russell,Lynda Webster +1 more
TL;DR: The first regional, multi-annual assessment of floating microplastics in Scotland's seas was carried out in 2014 to 2020 using a catamaran swimmer body/neuston net trawl as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
Seeing the ocean through the eyes of seabirds: a new path for marine conservation?
Amélie Lescroël,Raphaël Mathevet,Clara Péron,Matthieu Authier,Pascal Provost,Akinori Takahashi,David Grémillet,David Grémillet +7 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present research avenues using a seabirds' view, for tackling marine conservation and management issues, and give operational examples of implementation based on their work in the English Channel.
Book ChapterDOI
Microplastics in Aquatic Environments and Their Toxicological Implications for Fish
TL;DR: In this paper, it is assumed that microplastics may increase the exposure of marine aquatic organisms to chemicals associated with the plastics, and thus, aquatic living organisms are continuously exposed to these MPs, and associated contaminants, and could suffer from its contamination but also introduce them into the food chain.
Journal ArticleDOI
Semi-automatic recognition of marine debris on beaches.
TL;DR: The results revealed that LIDAR should be used for the classification of marine debris into plastic, paper, cloth and metal and reconstructed a 3-dimensional model of different types of debris on a beach with a high validity of debris revivification using LIDar-based individual separation.
Journal ArticleDOI
Basin-scale sources and pathways of microplastic that ends up in the Galápagos Archipelago
Erik van Sebille,Philippe Delandmeter,John Schofield,Britta Denise Hardesty,Jen Jones,Andy Donnelly +5 more
TL;DR: Using virtual floating plastic particles transported in high-resolution ocean surface currents, this article analyzed the plastic origin and fate using pathways and connectivity between the Galapagos region and the coastlines as well as known fishery locations around the east Pacific Ocean.
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.
Journal ArticleDOI
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
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Journal ArticleDOI
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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.