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
Reads0
Chats0
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
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Deep sea sediments of the Arctic Central Basin: A potential sink for microplastics
La Daana K. Kanhai,La Daana K. Kanhai,Carina Johansson,João Frias,Katarina Gårdfeldt,Richard C. Thompson,Ian O'Connor +6 more
TL;DR: Deep sea sediments have emerged as a potential sink for microplastics in the marine environment as discussed by the authors, and the discovery of microplastic in various environmental compartments of the Arctic Central Basin (ACB) has been reported.
Journal ArticleDOI
Characterization of microplastic litter from oceans by an innovative approach based on hyperspectral imaging.
TL;DR: HSI was revealed as a rapid, non-invasive,non-destructive and reliable technology for the characterization of the microplastic waste, opening a promising way for improving the plastic pollution monitoring.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microplastic accumulation in fish from Zhanjiang mangrove wetland, South China.
Jian-Sheng Huang,J. Bimali Koongolla,Heng-Xiang Li,Lang Lin,Yun-Feng Pan,Shan Liu,Wei-Hong He,Dusmant Maharana,Xiang-Rong Xu +8 more
TL;DR: The wide presences of MPs in fish species within a mangrove wetland is revealed, revealing the body sizes, living habitats and feeding habits of fish are important factors affecting MPs accumulation in different fish species.
Journal ArticleDOI
Global Oceans Governance: New and Emerging Issues
Lisa M. Campbell,Noella J. Gray,Luke Fairbanks,Jennifer J. Silver,Rebecca L. Gruby,Bradford A. Dubik,Xavier Basurto +6 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review the challenges and opportunities related to the nature of oceans and to actors involved in, the scale of, and knowledge informing their governance, in relation to nine new and emerging issues: small-scale fisheries, aquaculture, biodiversity conservation on the high seas, large marine protected areas (LMPAs), tuna fisheries, deep-sea mining, ocean acidification (OA), blue carbon (BC), and plastics pollution.
Journal ArticleDOI
Food-web transfer of microplastics between wild caught fish and crustaceans in East China Sea.
TL;DR: The results suggest that MP pollution is ubiquitous in the East China Sea, and it is suggested that marine organisms which occupy higher trophic levels might be suitable MP indicator species.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
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
TL;DR: It is shown that microscopic plastic fragments and fibers are also widespread in the marine environment and may persist for centuries.
Journal ArticleDOI
Accumulation and fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments.
TL;DR: Global plastics production and the accumulation of plastic waste are documented, showing that trends in mega- and macro-plastic accumulation rates are no longer uniformly increasing and that the average size of plastic particles in the environment seems to be decreasing.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microplastics in the Marine Environment: A Review of the Methods Used for Identification and Quantification
TL;DR: This review of 68 studies compares the methodologies used for the identification and quantification of microplastics from the marine environment and suggests standardized sampling procedures which allow the spatiotemporal comparison ofmicroplastic abundance across marine environments.
Journal ArticleDOI
Transport and release of chemicals from plastics to the environment and to wildlife
Emma L. Teuten,Jovita M. Saquing,Detlef R.U. Knappe,Morton A. Barlaz,Susanne Jonsson,Annika Björn,Steven J. Rowland,Richard C. Thompson,Tamara S. Galloway,Rei Yamashita,Daisuke Ochi,Yutaka Watanuki,Charles J. Moore,Pham Hung Viet,Touch Seang Tana,Maricar S. Prudente,Ruchaya Boonyatumanond,Mohamad Pauzi Zakaria,Kongsap Akkhavong,Yuko Ogata,Hisashi Hirai,Satoru Iwasa,Kaoruko Mizukawa,Yuki Hagino,Ayako Imamura,Mahua Saha,Hideshige Takada +26 more
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.