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
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
Citations
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Research progress in sources, analytical methods, eco-environmental effects, and control measures of microplastics.
Jian Gong,Pei Xie +1 more
TL;DR: A theoretical basis for the prevention and control of microplastics pollution is provided, and insights for the next step of research are provided for scientific research on microplastic pollution in terrestrial, freshwater and atmospheric environments.
Journal ArticleDOI
Modeling Sustainability: Population, Inequality, Consumption, and Bidirectional Coupling of the Earth and Human Systems
Safa Motesharrei,Jorge Rivas,Eugenia Kalnay,Ghassem R. Asrar,Antonio J. Busalacchi,Robert F. Cahalan,Robert F. Cahalan,Mark A. Cane,Rita R. Colwell,Kuishuang Feng,Rachel S. Franklin,Klaus Hubacek,Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm,Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm,Takemasa Miyoshi,Matthias Ruth,Roald Z. Sagdeev,Adel Shirmohammadi,Jagadish Shukla,Jelena Srebric,Victor M. Yakovenko,Ning Zeng +21 more
TL;DR: It is argued that in order to understand the dynamics of either system, Earth System Models must be coupled with Human System Models through bidirectional couplings representing the positive, negative, and delayed feedbacks that exist in the real systems.
Journal ArticleDOI
Immunotoxicity of microplastics and two persistent organic pollutants alone or in combination to a bivalve species.
Yu Tang,Jiahuan Rong,Xiaofan Guan,Shanjie Zha,Wei Shi,Yu Han,Xueying Du,Fangzhu Wu,Wei Huang,Guangxu Liu +9 more
TL;DR: Data obtained in this study indicate that similar to exposure to B[a]P and E2, exposure to microplastics may hamper the immune responses of clams through a series of interdependent physiological and molecular processes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microplastics in seawater and zooplankton from the Yellow Sea.
TL;DR: The retention of MPs in zooplankton is recommended as a key index for further ecological risk assessment of MPs, and it is proved that zoopLankton act as a repository for MPs in coastal waters.
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The way of microplastic through the environment – Application of the source-pathway-receptor model (review)
TL;DR: The Source-Pathway-Receptor model is applied to the context of microplastics, whereby the current state of knowledge can be compiled in a structured way and important knowledge gaps can be identified.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
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