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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Colonization Characteristics of Bacterial Communities on Plastic Debris Influenced by Environmental Factors and Polymer Types in the Haihe Estuary of Bohai Bay, China.
TL;DR: Compared with seawater and sediment, PD could be carriers for enrichment of Vibrio in the estuarine environment with salinity ≥ 26 (± 2‰), which might increase the ecological risk of PD in marine environments.
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Small Microplastics As a Main Contributor to Plastic Mass Balance in the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre
Marie Poulain,Marie Poulain,Matthieu Mercier,Laurent Brach,Marion Martignac,Corinne Routaboul,Emile Perez,Marie Christine Desjean,Alexandra Ter Halle +8 more
TL;DR: SMP buoyancy is significantly decreased compared to the large microplastics (LMP, 1-5 mm) and consequently more susceptible to vertical transport, and it is demonstrated that SMP were 300 to 70 000 times more abundant than LMP.
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A review of human and animals exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: Health risk and adverse effects, photo-induced toxicity and regulating effect of microplastics.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of microplastics on the bio-toxicity and bioaccumulation capacity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been investigated.
Journal ArticleDOI
Uptake and Depuration Kinetics Influence Microplastic Bioaccumulation and Toxicity in Antarctic Krill (Euphausia superba)
A. Dawson,Wilhelmina M. Huston,So Kawaguchi,Catherine K. King,Roger Allan Cropp,Seanan James Wild,Pascale Eisenmann,Kathy A. Townsend,Susan Bengtson Nash +8 more
TL;DR: The results support recent findings of limited acute toxicity of ingested microplastics at this trophic level, and suggest sublethal chronic end points should be the focus of further ecotoxicological investigation.
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Release of primary microplastics from consumer products to wastewater in the Netherlands.
TL;DR: The authors estimate the release of primary microplastics from consumer products-cosmetics and personal care products, cleaning agents, and paint and coatings-via sewage effluent as an expected relevant route to the marine environment.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
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