A first-of-its-kind study published yesterday in Science has identified another alarming man made problem:
Corals wrapped in plastic
Coral reefs provide vital fisheries and coastal defense, and they urgently need protection from the damaging effects of plastic waste. Lamb et al. surveyed 159 coral reefs in the Asia-Pacific region. Billions of plastic items were entangled in the reefs. The more spikey the coral species, the more likely they were to snag plastic. Disease likelihood increased 20-fold once a coral was draped in plastic. Plastic debris stresses coral through light deprivation, toxin release, and anoxia, giving pathogens a foothold for invasion.
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Abstract
Plastic waste can promote microbial colonization by pathogens implicated in outbreaks of disease in the ocean. We assessed the influence of plastic waste on disease risk in 124,000 reef-building corals from 159 reefs in the Asia-Pacific region. The likelihood of disease increases from 4% to 89% when corals are in contact with plastic. Structurally complex corals are eight times more likely to be affected by plastic, suggesting that microhabitats for reef-associated organisms and valuable fisheries will be disproportionately affected. Plastic levels on coral reefs correspond to estimates of terrestrial mismanaged plastic waste entering the ocean. We estimate that 11.1 billion plastic items are entangled on coral reefs across the Asia-Pacific and project this number to increase 40% by 2025. Plastic waste management is critical for reducing diseases that threaten ecosystem health and human livelihoods.
You read that right. The data suggests that there are more than 11 billion errant pieces of plastic tangled up in our coral reef systems, some of the most important microhabitats in the ocean that are already under drastic threat from a phenomenon known as Coral Bleaching.
Coral bleaching occurs when coral polyps expel algae that live inside their tissues. Normally, coral polyps live in an endosymbiotic relationship with the algae and that relationship is crucial for the coral and hence for the health of the whole reef.[1] Bleached corals might continue to live for some time. But as the algae provide the coral with up to 90% of its energy, after expelling the algae the coral begins to starve.[2] After bleaching, some corals may recover, while some die. Above-average sea water temperatures caused by global warming have been identified as a leading cause for coral bleaching worldwide.[2] Between 2014 and 2016, the longest global bleaching events ever were recorded. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, these bleaching events killed coral on an unprecedented scale. In 2016, bleaching of coral on the Great Barrier Reef killed between 29 and 50 percent of the reef's coral.[3][4][5] In 2017, the bleaching further expanded to areas of the reef that were previously spared, such as the central one.[6][7] The average interval between bleaching events has halved between 1980 and 2016.[8]
The repercussions of coral bleaching are disasterous: deadly algae can flood ocean shores and offshore ecosystems, can prevent certain animals in the food chain from finding nourishment, increase the propagation rate of infectious bacteria in open waters, decrease filtration against poisonous chemicals like cyanide, and a whole slew of other planet-altering problems.
The report on plastic pollution in our coral systems echoes a similar, terrifying pollution problem in our amazing oceans known as the Five Gyres, researched and discovered by an institute of the same name.
5 Gyres was the first organization to research plastic pollution in all five main subtropical gyres[18] and first to determine how much plastic is on the surface of the world's oceans: Nearly 270,000 metric tons and 5.25 trillion pieces. They published this research as the Global Estimate of Plastic Pollution in 2014,[19] which will update again in 2018. Historically, the group has presented traveling exhibits,[20] including stops at universities[21] and educational discussions;[22] in 2016 their education presentations[23] reached 3,000 students through the "Every Kid in a Park" program.
In 2012, 5 Gyres was first to discover that plastic microbeads (commonly found in personal care products like toothpaste and exfoliating soaps) were polluting our waterways.[24] 5 Gyres used that study to help forge a coalition that convinced companies like Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and L’Oreal to phase out plastic microbeads. After only two years, the campaign scaled into a national movement, culminating in a watershed victory when President Obama signed the Microbead-Free Waters Act into law at the end of 2015.[25]
And in June 2017, a new underwater garbage patch was discovered by the Algalita Research Foundation that is alarmingly vast: it exceeds the size of Mexico.
Water, water, everywhere—and most of it is filled with plastic.
A new discovery of a massive amount of plastic floating in the South Pacific is yet another piece of bad news in the fight against ocean plastic pollution. This patch was recently discovered by Captain Charles Moore, founder of the Algalita Research Foundation, a non-profit group dedicated to solving the issue of marine plastic pollution.
Moore, who was the first one to discover the famed North Pacific garbage patch in 1997, estimates this zone of plastic pollution could be upwards of a million square miles in size. (Read: A Whopping 91% of Plastic Isn’t Recycled.)
The damage from plastic to our oceans and other water bodies can not be understated. Ocean Deeply’s TODD WOODY reports:
“Plastics are a triple whammy for coral infections,” said Drew Harvell, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University who conducted reef surveys in Indonesia for the study published in Science.
First, plastic debris can cut open corals’ delicate skin, exposing them to infection. Second, ocean plastic trash is often colonized by bacteria that can directly introduce disease to corals. And third, plastic can shade corals, blocking light and creating conditions that allow certain pathogens to thrive.
“These diseases are pretty damaging to corals,” Harvell said. “Once a coral has one of these diseases, it can kill the whole colony, and once an infection starts on one coral colony, it can build up steam and spread to other ones.”
“I think it’s a huge new impact to show that these plastics are so dirty that they can be creating wounds and infectious disease,” she added.
The researchers predict the amount of plastic caught on coral reefs will spike 40 percent by 2025 to 15.7 billion pieces.
The findings come as coral reefs are under unprecedented stress from climate change. Rising ocean temperatures have triggered back-to-back coral bleaching events in which the algae that live in corals and provide them with nutrition and their color, become toxic. The corals expel the algae and turn bone white. Deprived of nutrition, corals can die unless ocean temperatures cool and the algae return. A groundbreaking study published January 4 concluded that coral bleaching – a phenomenon virtually unknown before 1980 – is now accelerating at a rate that will not give reefs enough time to recover before the next heat wave hits.
Nuclear war isn’t the world-ending event that worries me. Majority mankind’s lack of attention and care to the climate is.