Seagrass 'Neptune Balls' Sieve Millions of Plastic Particles From Water, Study Finds 23
Underwater seagrass in coastal areas appear to trap plastic pollution in natural bundles of fiber known as "Neptune balls," researchers have found. The Guardian reports: With no help from humans, the swaying plants -- anchored to shallow seabeds -- may collect nearly 900 million plastic items in the Mediterranean alone every year, a study reported in the journal Scientific Reports said. "We show that plastic debris in the seafloor can be trapped in seagrass remains, eventually leaving the marine environment through beaching," lead author Anna Sanchez-Vidal, a marine biologist at the University of Barcelona, told AFP. This clean-up "represents a continuous purge of plastic debris out of the sea," she added.
To better understand the plastic bundling capabilities of seagrass, Sanchez-Vidal and her team studied a species found only in the Mediterranean sea, Posidonia oceanica. In 2018 and 2019, they counted the number of plastic particles found in seaballs that had washed up on four beaches in Mallorca, Spain, which has large seagrass meadows offshore. There was plastic debris in half of the loose seagrass leaf samples, up to 600 bits per kilogram of leaves.
Only 17% of the tighter bundled seagrass fibre known as Neptune balls contained plastic, but at a much higher density -- nearly 1,500 pieces per kilogram of seaball. Using estimates of seagrass fibre production in the Mediterranean, the researchers worked up an estimate of how much plastic might be filtered in the entire basin. The oval orbs -- the shape of a rugby ball -- form from the base of leaves that have been shredded by the action of ocean currents but remain attached to stems, called rhizomes. As they are slowly buried by sedimentation, the damaged leaf sheaths form stiff fibres that intertwine into a ball, collecting plastic in the process.
To better understand the plastic bundling capabilities of seagrass, Sanchez-Vidal and her team studied a species found only in the Mediterranean sea, Posidonia oceanica. In 2018 and 2019, they counted the number of plastic particles found in seaballs that had washed up on four beaches in Mallorca, Spain, which has large seagrass meadows offshore. There was plastic debris in half of the loose seagrass leaf samples, up to 600 bits per kilogram of leaves.
Only 17% of the tighter bundled seagrass fibre known as Neptune balls contained plastic, but at a much higher density -- nearly 1,500 pieces per kilogram of seaball. Using estimates of seagrass fibre production in the Mediterranean, the researchers worked up an estimate of how much plastic might be filtered in the entire basin. The oval orbs -- the shape of a rugby ball -- form from the base of leaves that have been shredded by the action of ocean currents but remain attached to stems, called rhizomes. As they are slowly buried by sedimentation, the damaged leaf sheaths form stiff fibres that intertwine into a ball, collecting plastic in the process.
Link to paper (Score:5, Informative)
Seagrasses provide a novel ecosystem service by trapping marine plastics [nature.com]
How much is that ? (Score:2)
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Re:How much is that ? (Score:5, Informative)
The paper says that they counted 1470 pieces of plastic per kg of seaweed, which made up 1.6% of the mass.
So 10.6g/1470 = 7.2 mg/piece.
So 900 million pieces weigh 6.5 metric tonnes. Or about one truckload.
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"So 900 million pieces weigh 6.5 metric tonnes. Or about one truckload."
Exactly. About the same amount of plastic that people eat with their sushi each day in California.
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No, the fish breathe the plastic particles in.
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one such article I came across
https://swachhindia.ndtv.com/a... [ndtv.com]
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Easy to put it down, but it's probably worth noting that sea grass meadows are also massive carbon sinks rivalling rainforests in their ability to soak up excess carbon. They've also been massively depleted by bottom trawling, an excessive inefficient method of fishing.
As such, restoring sea grass meadows and kelp forests is an absolute no brainer by banning bottom trawling. This also helps restore fisheries making more sustainable forms of fishing more cost effective.
The fact that they capture some of the
It's like in Nausicaa! (Score:3)
Hayao Miyazaki was right! Except the fukai is underwater!
Amazing stuff.
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Miyazaki was a genius on so many levels.
For those readers who are scratching their heads
Nausica of the Valley of the Wind [wikipedia.org]
watch it if you can, it is a masterpiece, as are all of Miyasaki's works.
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The manga is more complete. The movie is only the 1st quarter to a third of the manga's progression
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausica%C3%A4_of_the_Valley_of_the_Wind_(manga)
Great! So no need to solve the problem! (Score:3)
Right?
Now we must find some plants that trap CO2 from the atmosphere and global warming will be solved as well!
(Whoever finds extreme sarcasm in the above posting is allowed to keep it...)
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Well, we or rather the Earth as a system, did for millions of years. Then some bright sparks decided it would be really neat to pump and dig it all up again because it wanted to be free . . . to earn them millions before they died so their grandchildren were left with a warming planet headed for a disaster.
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Pretty much, yes. Money they did not need in exchange for destabilizing a critical global system.
Solution to ocean plastic problem (Score:2)
natural mechanism? (Score:1, Troll)
Is this phenomena just a mechanism to remove shit from the ocean?
I don't think it is. It seems to be a method to enhance shoreline ecology not a method to move plastic to the riparian areas of that particular ocean.
Or is this just the Ocean puking before expiring from the increase in shallow water temperatures. The coho on the west coast of north america no longer fin on the surface in september and october they way the did up until the water temps started to spike in the Salish Sea. The few coho th
What, no jokes about Uranus Balls? (Score:1)
you guys are slipping
Thank goodness ... (Score:2)