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Showing Original Post only (View all)A Troubling Discovery in the Deepest Ocean Trenches [View all]
For the past decade, Jamieson, a marine biologist at Newcastle University, has been sending vehicles to the bottom of marine trenches, which can be as deep as the Himalayas are tall. Once there, these landers have collected amphipodsscavenger relatives of crabs and shrimp that thrive in the abyss. Jamieson originally wanted to know how these animals differ from one distant trench to another. But a few years ago, almost on a whim, he decided to analyze their body for toxic, human-made pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, which have been banned for decades but which persist in nature for much longer.
The team found PCBs galore. Some amphipods were carrying levels 50 times higher than those seen in crabs from one of Chinas most polluted rivers. When the news broke, Jamieson was inundated with calls from journalists and concerned citizens. And in every discussion, one question kept coming up: What about plastics?
Brooks eventually found plastic fibers and fragments in 72 percent of the amphipods that the team collected, from all six trenches that they had surveyed. In the least polluted of these sites, half of the amphipods had swallowed at least one piece of plastic. In the 6.8-mile-deep Mariana Trench, the lowest point in any ocean, all of the specimens had plastic in their gut.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/02/deepest-ocean-trenches-animals-eat-plastic/583657/
The team found PCBs galore. Some amphipods were carrying levels 50 times higher than those seen in crabs from one of Chinas most polluted rivers. When the news broke, Jamieson was inundated with calls from journalists and concerned citizens. And in every discussion, one question kept coming up: What about plastics?
Brooks eventually found plastic fibers and fragments in 72 percent of the amphipods that the team collected, from all six trenches that they had surveyed. In the least polluted of these sites, half of the amphipods had swallowed at least one piece of plastic. In the 6.8-mile-deep Mariana Trench, the lowest point in any ocean, all of the specimens had plastic in their gut.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/02/deepest-ocean-trenches-animals-eat-plastic/583657/
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I watched the televised bombs and cried my paleontology, archaeology,
littlemissmartypants
Mar 2019
#29
At least many areas are going away from plastic bags. Those and 1 use bottles are the WORST.
oldsoftie
Mar 2019
#15
Well we can't exactly clean it up we can however reduce what we are currently producing.
cstanleytech
Mar 2019
#27
Remember that "kid" who invented the sweeper system to get rid of the plastics in our oceans?
ProudLib72
Mar 2019
#5
but the focus needs to be on the source first. 90% of ocean plastic comes from 10 rivers.
oldsoftie
Mar 2019
#10
Sadly, you are so right. I don't know if there is enough international will
Evolve Dammit
Mar 2019
#25
Actually two children works for worldwide population reductions and surprisingly fast n/t.
airplaneman
Mar 2019
#18
In the US, most of our population growth lately is coming from immigration
crazycatlady
Mar 2019
#32