Microscopic creatures could be helping reduce marine garbage on the ocean surface, not only by “eating” plastics, but by causing tiny pieces to sink to the seafloor, Australian researchers said on Thursday.
The plastic-dwellers appear to be biodegrading the millions of tonnes of debris floating on waters worldwide, according to oceanographers at the University of Western Australia.
They analyzed more than 1,000 images of material drifting along Australia’s coast in a study published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.
The study is the first to document the biological communities living on the tiny particles of debris known as microplastics, and recorded many new types of microbe and invertebrate for the first time.
“Plastic biodegradation seems to happen at sea,” oceanographer Julia Reisser said.
“I am excited about this because the ‘plastic-eating’ microbes could provide solutions for better waste disposal practices on land,” she said.
Scientists have warned that microplastics — particles smaller than 5 millimeters — are threatening to alter the open ocean’s natural environment.
The UN Environment Program estimated in 2012 that about 13,000 pieces of microplastic litter were found in every square kilometer of sea, with the North Pacific most badly affected.
While there has been previous research on microbes eating plastic at landfills, Reisser said her research found early indications that their marine counterparts could be just as effective on ocean garbage.
“If you use terrestrial microbes, you need fresh water to grow them and the process can be very expensive,” she said. “But if you find marine microbes, they are growing in saltwater and that might be a cheaper way [to reduce landfills].”
Reisser said the research showed diatoms — tiny algae that were the most commonly found microbe living on the microplastics — were using the little pieces as a “boat” to move around on the surface of the ocean.
As an increasing number of diatoms — which are made of silica — gathered on a plastic piece, they appeared to make it sink to the bottom of the ocean floor, she said.
The actions of the microbes could explain why the amount of plastic floating on the seas has not been expanding as fast as scientists expected, Reisser added.
However, the researchers also found evidence of possible tiny bite marks on the microplastics, raising concerns that other small organisms could be consuming toxins found in the litter.
“It seems we have tiny animals grazing on these plastic inhabitants — but we are not sure if this is good or bad,” Reisser said.
“That’s a hazard that we are very worried about, but we need far more research to see how big this problem is,” she added.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not