Plastic pollution The human imprint of plastic pollution is now evident in all marine ecosystems. Scientists have documented plastics everywhere from white sand beaches and colorful coral reefs to the deepest, darkest trenches of the ocean. Plastic in the ocean imposes physical hazards to marine animals that eat or get tangled in it. Ocean plastic pollution presents a chemical hazard to the marine animals that ingest it. This toxic load includes both the synthetic ingredients in the plastic itself, and the contaminants that adhere to the plastic from the surrounding seawater. Recent MBARI research has included a look at how plastic moves through the ocean food web, and how microplastics are ingested by larvaceans, which in turn excrete the pellets, sending them toward the seafloor. An MBARI team also did a comprehensive review of 22-years-worth of video from the deep sea to shed light on the distribution of marine debris in and around Monterey Canyon. Plastics in the ocean are broken down into smaller pieces and are ingested by many animals, contaminating the marine food web. Some of the plastic ends up on the seafloor. Illustration by Kelly Lance © 2017 MBARI Learn more: Fight against plastic pollution targets a hidden source: Our clothes, NBC News Digital, May 5, 2019 The rise in ocean plastics evidenced from a 60-year time series, Nature Communications, April 16, 2019 Balloons the number 1 marine debris risk of mortality for seabirds, Science Daily, March 3, 2019 Microplastics research—from sink to source, Science, April 6, 2018. Plastic waste associated with disease on coral reefs, Science, January 26, 2018 Exceptional and rapid accumulation of anthropogenic debris on one of the world’s most remote and pristine islands, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, June 6, 2017 Human footprint in the abyss: 30 year records of deep-sea plastic debris, Science Direct, April 6, 2018 Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean, Science, February 13, 2015 VIDEO: Microplastics in the ocean Plastics facts Almost nine million tons of plastic enter the global ocean each year. (Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium) On average, every American produces 200 pounds of plastic waste per year. (Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium) If current practices continue, plastic input into the ocean is expected to double by 2025. (Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium) “We’re working to understand the transport and cycling of plastics through ocean food webs, and what this might mean for humans.”” —Former Postdoctoral Fellow Anela Choy on a joint project with the Monterey Bay Aquarium MBARI publications Choy, C.A., Robison, B.H., Gagne, T.O., Erwin, B., Firl, E., Halden, R.U., Hamilton, J.A., Katija, K., Lisin, S.E., Rolsky, C., Van Houtan, K.S. (2019). The vertical distribution and biological transport of marine microplastics across the epipelagic and mesopelagic water column, Scientific Reports, 6, 115, doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44117-2 Katija, K., C.A. Choy, R.E. Sherlock, A.D. Sherman, and B.H. Robison (2017). From the surface to the seafloor: How giant larvaceans transport microplastics into the deep sea. Science Advances 3: e1700715. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1700715. Schlining, K., S. Von Thun, L. Kuhnz, B. Schlining, L. Lundsten, N. Jacobsen Stout, L. Chaney, and J. Connor (2013). Debris in the deep: Using a 22-year video annotation database to survey marine litter in Monterey Canyon, Central California, USA. Deep Sea Research I, 79: 96-105. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2013.05.006 Lesson plans The following lesson plans about plastic in the ocean were created by teachers participating in the EARTH teacher workshops. EARTH—which stands for Education and Research: Testing Hypotheses—uses near-real-time data from ocean observatories to create lessons for students. More plastic than fish Graphing microplastics in the Antarctic Microplastics – A Major Problem? Share Like this? Share it! Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Share on Email
News Larvaceans provide a pathway for transporting microplastics into deep-sea food webs Press Release 08.16.17