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| SEAPLEX researchers Matt Durham and Miriam Goldstein encounter netting and plastic in the Pacific Ocean. (photo: Scripps Institution of Oceanography) |
13 May 12
Study on vast area of rubbish in north Pacific ocean finds it is beginning to impact on ecosystem.
arine
insects in the Pacific Ocean are changing their reproduction habitats
in response to environmental changes from the accumulating amount of
rubbish in the north Pacific subtropical gyre, also known as the great
Pacific garbage patch, according to researchers.
The patch has increased in size 100 times since the
1970s, including its swath of microplastic particles of less than 5mm
diameter. The marine insect Halobates sericeus, a species of water
skater, is now using the microplastic debris as a surface to lay its
eggs, said a study by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at
University of California San Diego, published on Wednesday in the Royal
Society journal Biology Letters.
"This paper shows a dramatic increase in plastic over a
relatively short time period and the effect it's having on a common
North Pacific Gyre invertebrate," said graduate student and lead author
Miriam Goldstein, in a statement released by Scripps. "We're seeing changes in this marine insect that can be directly attributed to the plastic."
Goldstein was part of a graduate student team, the
Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (Seaplex),
which travelled to the patch to study its environmental impact in 2009.
The study compared the group's findings to data from the early 1970s. READ MORE
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