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Interactions of microplastic debris throughout the marine ecosystem

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, Article number: 0116 (2017) Cite this article

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Abstract

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.

Research reporting the presence of plastic debris in the oceans has been in the literature since the 1970s1, when mass production methods first started to increase the scale and scope of plastic use. Fast-forward to the present day and plastics have become a ubiquitous feature of modern life and a dominant material in the consumer marketplace, with global production figures currently in excess of 300 million tonnes per year2. Around 50% of plastic items are used just once before being discarded, resulting in a growing burden of plastic waste, enough, it has been suggested, to leave an identifiable imprint in the geochemical fossil record3. An estimated 4.8–12.7 million tonnes of plastic was discharged into the oceans in 20104, and models have conservatively estimated over 5 trillion pieces of plastic are floating in the world's oceans5. Tiny plastic fragments, fibres and granules, termed microplastic (one micrometre to five millimetres in diameter) are the predominant form of ocean plastic debris6. Microplastic includes items manufactured to be small, such as exfoliating microbeads added to cosmetics, synthetic particles used in air blasting and antifouling of boats, and microspheres used in clinical medicine for drug delivery (ref. 7 and references therein). Secondary microplastic forms via fragmentation of plastic debris in the environment through photooxidation, mechanical action and biodegradation8,9. The timescale and scope of fragmentation is uncertain; in the cold, oxygen-limiting conditions found in marine waters and sediments it could take over 300 years for a 1 mm particle to reach a diameter of 100 nm (ref. 10).

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Figure 1: Schematic illustration of the dynamic changes experienced by microplastic in the water column.
Figure 2: Scanning electron microscopy images of microplastics.
Figure 3
Figure 4: Mechanisms by which benthic organisms could influence the partitioning of microplastics between the water column and sediments.
Figure 5: Graph showing global statistics for the amount of crude oil spilled at sea compared with the increase in terrestrial plastics export into the oceans, as a function of time.

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by the Natural Environment Research Council (grants NE/L007010 and NE/N006178) and European Union FP7 (grant 308370). We gratefully acknowledge helpful discussions with colleagues, including R. Lohmann (University of Rhode Island) for discussions on persistent organic pollutants.

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  1. College of Life and Environmental Sciences: Biosciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QD, UK

    Tamara S. Galloway, Matthew Cole & Ceri Lewis

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Galloway, T., Cole, M. & Lewis, C. Interactions of microplastic debris throughout the marine ecosystem. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 0116 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0116

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