Richard Kirby, a marine biologist in Plymouth, England, found a piece of plastic intertwined with a small creature while looking at a squirming zooplankton under a microscope.
He collected samples from the Plymouth Sea to raise awareness of microplastic pollution in the sea. These studies confirmed that marine plastic pollution has been increasing at an alarming rate over the years. According to the World Wildlife Fund, 88% of marine species were affected by plastic pollution.
People are well aware of sea birds dying after eating cigarette lighters or turtles that choke to death by mistaking plastic bags for jellyfish. However, few people recognize that plastic harms smaller creatures.
Microplastics may kill plankton, an important source of food for other marine life, including fish, according to professional media on the 18th (local time). This is because plankton cannot put enough food in their gut if it is already full of small pieces of plastic. Microplastics can also be found in clean seas.
Plastic can also be found in plankton samples collected from Antarctica. Plastic pieces of clothing are important contaminants at the microscopic level. Microplastics can also come from tires, road markings, and personal hygiene products.
Bill Perry, an associate professor of biology at Illinois State University, has been extracting small pieces of food and particles from underwater creatures. Microplastics were also collected in the process.
The damage caused by microplastics is not limited to microscopic marine life such as plankton. In fact, it is more prominent in species that are located higher up in the food chain and eat small organisms that consume microplastics.
In 2020, Professor Bill Perry conducted an investigation into the presence of microplastics in two different fish species living in a reservoir in McRan County, Illinois. They collected 96 fish and found microplastics in all fish.
Eating microplastics can cause problems with fish growth and reproduction. Researchers say that fish guts start to have more and more plastic and less food, and they don't have enough energy for growth and reproduction as they do when they don't eat microplastics.
According to a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the amount of microplastics in the eastern tropical Pacific is expected to increase 3.9 times by 2030 compared to the level of microplastics in 2008. When microplastics enter the food chain of the sea, it is difficult to leave. Individual animals can excrete microplastics, but they are also used as food sources for marine animals, including feeders.
Writer: Michael Wu
(Picture from Unsplash)
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