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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Scalable Bifunctional Organoboron Catalysts for Copolymerization of CO2 and Epoxides with Unprecedented Efficiency.
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Anthropogenic particles in the stomach contents and liver of the freshwater fish Squalius cephalus
TL;DR: The majority of APs isolated from stomach contents were fibers, which highlights that fish could be more exposed to fibers than previously thought and that more studies on the impacts of fiber ingestion are required.
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Perfluoroalkylated Substances in the Global Tropical and Subtropical Surface Oceans
TL;DR: The ubiquitous occurrence of PFCAs, PFSAs, and PFASAs in the global ocean is reported, being the first attempt, to the authors' knowledge, to show a comprehensive assessment in surface water samples collected in a single oceanic expedition.
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Time-dependent effects of polystyrene nanoparticles in brine shrimp Artemia franciscana at physiological, biochemical and molecular levels
Inmaculada Varó,Aurora Perini,A. Torreblanca,Yaiza Garcia,Elisa Bergami,Maria Luisa Vannuccini,Ilaria Corsi +6 more
TL;DR: It is revealed that low PS-NH2 concentrations induce physiological, biochemical and molecular alterations in Artemia, and point at their potential risk for this model organism, supporting the general concern about nanoplastics occurrences in aquatic environments and their ability to represent an ecological threat for aquatic zooplanktonic species.
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Metabolomics revealing the response of rice (Oryza sativa L.) exposed to polystyrene microplastics
Xiang Wu,Yao Liu,Shanshan Yin,Keke Xiao,Qiao Xiong,Shijie Bian,Sha Liang,Huijie Hou,Jingping Hu,Jiakuan Yang +9 more
TL;DR: The presence of PS-MPs may affect rice production by altering the metabolic systems of rice by inhibiting the inhibition of perturbed biological pathway which causes the biosynthesis of amino acids, nucleic acids, fatty acids and some secondary metabolites decreased.
References
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Microplastics in the marine environment
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Journal ArticleDOI
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