Annual Review of Environment and Resources Plastic as a Persistent Marine Pollutant (original) (raw)
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Plastic as a Persistent Marine Pollutant
Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 2017
Synthetic organic polymers—or plastics—did not enter widespread use until the 1950s. By 2015, global production had increased to 322 million metric tons (Mt) year−1, which approaches the total weight of the human population produced in plastic every year. Approximately half is used for packaging and other disposables, 40% of plastic waste is not accounted for in managed landfills or recycling facilities, and 4.8–12.7 Mt year−1 enter the ocean as macroscopic litter and microplastic particles. Here, we argue that such mismanaged plastic waste is similar to other persistent pollutants, such as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which once threatened a “silent spring” on land. Such a scenario seems now possible in the ocean, where plastic cannot be easily removed, accumulates in organisms and sediments, and persists much longer than on land. New evidence indicates a complex toxicology of plastic micro- and nanoparticles on marine life, and transfe...
The Global Plastic Breakdown: How Microplastics Are Shredding Ocean Health
Coastal Heritage
The Global PlasTic breakdown: how MicroPlasTics are shreddinG ocean healTh What's happening to sea life as plastics are shredded into smaller and smaller pieces? TinY ParTicles, biG ProbleMs Smaller particles are especially "sticky," capturing waterborne contaminants. sweePs caPTure PlasTic liTTer, includinG ciGareTTe buTTs Cigarette butts are primarily made from plastic. Dispose of them properly. news and noTes • New insights on marketable clams • Accountant/fiscal analyst joins Consortium • Litter cleanup volunteers needed • Coastal Heritage wins prestigious awards ebbs and Flows •
Interactions of microplastic debris throughout the marine ecosystem
Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2017
Marine microscopic plastic (microplastic) debris is a modern societal issue, illustrating the challenge of balancing the convenience of plastic in daily life with the prospect of causing ecological harm by careless disposal. Here we develop the concept of microplastic as a complex, dynamic mixture of polymers and additives, to which organic material and contaminants can successively bind to form an 'ecocorona', increasing the density and surface charge of particles and changing their bioavailability and toxicity. Chronic exposure to microplastic is rarely lethal, but can adversely affect individual animals, reducing feeding and depleting energy stores, with knock on effects for fecundity and growth. We explore the extent to which ecological processes could be impacted, including altered behaviours, bioturbation and impacts on carbon flux to the deep ocean. We discuss how microplastic compares with other anthropogenic pollutants in terms of ecological risk, and consider the role of science and society in tackling this global issue in the future.
Environmental sciences Europe, 2018
Persistent plastics, with an estimated lifetime for degradation of hundreds of years in marine conditions, can break up into micro- and nanoplastics over shorter timescales, thus facilitating their uptake by marine biota throughout the food chain. These polymers may contain chemical additives and contaminants, including some known endocrine disruptors that may be harmful at extremely low concentrations for marine biota, thus posing potential risks to marine ecosystems, biodiversity and food availability. Although there is still need to carry out focused scientific research to fill the knowledge gaps about the impacts of plastic litter in the marine environment (Wagner et al. in Environ Sci Eur 26:9, 2014), the food chain and human health, existing scientific evidence and concerns are already sufficient to support actions by the scientific, industry, policy and civil society communities to curb the ongoing flow of plastics and the toxic chemicals they contain into the marine environm...
Microplastics and nanoplastics in the marine-atmosphere environment
Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 2022
The discovery of atmospheric micro(nano)plastics transport and ocean-atmosphere exchange points to a highly complex marine plastic cycle, with negative implications for human and ecosystem health. Yet observations are currently limited. In this Perspective, 4 of 23 07/04/2022, 15:41 we quantify the marine-atmospheric micro(nano)plastics cycle processes and fluxes, with the aim of highlighting the remaining unknowns in atmospheric micro(nano)plastics transport. Between 0.013 and 25 million metric tons per year of micro(nano)plastics are potentially being transported within the marine atmosphere and deposited in the oceans. However, the high uncertainty in these marine-atmospheric fluxes is related to data limitations and a lack of study intercomparability. To address the uncertainties and remaining knowledge gaps in the marineatmospheric micro(nano)plastics cycle, we propose a future global marine-atmospheric micro(nano)plastics observation strategy, incorporating novel sampling methods and the creation of a comparable, harmonized and global dataset. Together with long-term observations and intensive investigations, this strategy will help to define the trends in marine-atmospheric pollution and any responses to future policy and management actions. Editor's Summary Atmospheric transport of microplastics could be a major source of plastic pollution to the ocean, yet observations currently remain limited. This Perspective quantifies the known budgets of the marine-atmospheric micro(nano)plastics cycle and proposes a future global observation strategy.
Microplastics in the oceans: the solutions lie on land
Field Actions Science Reports. The journal of field actions, 2019
There are 5,250 billion* plastic particles floating on the surface on the world’s seas and oceans, equivalent to 268,940 metric tons of waste. These fragments move with the currents before washing up on beaches, islands, coral atolls or one of the five great ocean gyres. As early as 2010, Tara Expeditions Foundation was one of the first bodies to undertake a scientific examination of microplastic pollution in the oceans, an issue previously subject to very limited scientific study. Tara wanted to use its ocean study programs to understand the impact of this pollution on marine life. In 2014, Tara conducted a seven-month expedition in the Mediterranean Sea to improve understanding of the consequences in a semi-enclosed sea. The expedition highlighted the fact that microplastics are heavily colonized by bacteria. Research into sea-borne plastic has since become an integral part of Tara’s work. Excessive consumption of plastics, and the waste this generates, has a massive impact on the...
Scientific Reports
plastic waste has been documented in nearly all types of marine environments and has been found in species spanning all levels of marine food webs. Within these marine environments, deep pelagic waters encompass the largest ecosystems on Earth. We lack a comprehensive understanding of the concentrations, cycling, and fate of plastic waste in sub-surface waters, constraining our ability to implement effective, large-scale policy and conservation strategies. We used remotely operated vehicles and engineered purpose-built samplers to collect and examine the distribution of microplastics in the Monterey Bay pelagic ecosystem at water column depths ranging from 5 to 1000 m. Laser Raman spectroscopy was used to identify microplastic particles collected from throughout the deep pelagic water column, with the highest concentrations present at depths between 200 and 600 m. Examination of two abundant particle feeders in this ecosystem, pelagic red crabs (Pleuroncodes planipes) and giant larvaceans (Bathochordaeus stygius), showed that microplastic particles readily flow from the environment into coupled water column and seafloor food webs. Our findings suggest that one of the largest and currently underappreciated reservoirs of marine microplastics may be contained within the water column and animal communities of the deep sea. The practical allure of plastic-a durable synthetic material that resists chemical and physical degradationhas translated to widespread environmental concern. Derived from petrochemicals, plastic was brought into large-scale global production during the mid-20 th century 1. Plastic debris was first recorded at the surface of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the early 1970s 2,3. Given the continued, and now accelerating, large-scale production, use, and mismanaged disposal of plastic since that time, marine plastic pollution is now a significant environmental challenge spanning nearly all ecosystem types, and all levels of marine food webs 4. Physical and chemical hazards related to entanglement in and ingestion of plastic debris across a diverse range of plastic sizes and types have generated broad ecological concerns 5-7. Further, human health impacts stemming from both the chemical exposure to plastic debris from seafood consumption, as well as from toxins that adsorb onto plastic debris from the surrounding seawater, are currently unknown 8,9. Most global scientific studies describing the extent and amounts of oceanic marine plastic pollution have been confined to the surface layer of the ocean. However, deep pelagic waters within marine ecosystems dwarf all other available living space on Earth, and growing evidence demonstrates that plastic is accumulating within the animals, bottom sediments, and trenches of the deep sea 10-14. Recent global inventories of floating plastic waste point to size-selective fragmentation and transport of microplastics to deeper waters through physical and biological processes 15,16 , as well as movement into marine food webs following trophic uptake (ingestion) and other physical processes (e.g., gill ventilation 17), and passage through the food web 18-21. To understand the distribution