Marine Litter Vital Graphics

IMPACTS

Number of species with documented records of entanglement in marine debris Plasticized animal species - Entangled

Polar bear

Marine ducks

Whales

Dugongs and sea cows

Turtles

Penguins

Grebes

Divers

9

5

7

6

6

3

2

1

(40%)

(60%)

(38.5)

(100%)

(33.3%)

(26.1%)

(100%)

(69.2%)

Pelicans, gannets and boobies, tropicbirds

16

Eared seals

9

True seals

Toothed whales

13

20

24

(47.4%)

(100%)

(29.9%)

(24.6%)

89

92

Albatross and other Procellariiformes

(17.0%)

Invertebrates

39

Fish

Gulls, skuas, terns and auks

(28.1%)

(0.27%)

(0.06%)

Source: Kühn, S., et al., Deleterious E ects of Litter on Marine Life, in Bergmann, M., et al., Marine Anthropogenic Litter, Springer, 2015

buoyant and floats on the surface; however the ocean floor may be its final resting place (Goldberg, 1997). Large items, including discarded or lost fishing gear, quickly sink to the sea floor. These items can smother benthic organisms, crush vegetation and coral and turn sediments anoxic (Kuhn et al., 2015). Examples include fishing line wrapped around coral colonies causing death, plastic bags directly smothering organisms or reducing light penetration, and large items dragged along the sea floor causing physical damage (Kuhn et al., 2015; Yoshikawa and Asoh, 2004). Floating away The artificial habitats provided by floating marine debris can support a diverse marine ecosystem. Kiessling et al. (2015) report that globally, 387 taxa, including microorganisms, seaweed, and invertebrates, have been found on floating litter. They found that, in most of the world’s oceans, stalked barnacles (a prominent fouling species) were the most common organisms colonizing floating litter. It is not only large mats of litter that provide a home for marine organisms; one species of water

strider has found that microplastic particles provide an ideal site to lay eggs. Goldstein et al. (2012) suggest that the increase in numbers of the pelagic water strider Halobates sericues in the region of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is a direct result of the increase in hard substrate provided by microplastic. Floating litter provides an additional dispersal mechanism for natural floating materials such as kelp mats, pumice and wood. Although these rafts of rubbish, moved by the same wind and currents as natural material, do not provide new dispersal pathways, the persistence and wide distribution of large amounts of plastic in the oceans provides greater opportunity for dispersal (Lewis et al., 2005). It has been suggested that debris could play a part in the spread of invasive species. Kiessling et al. (2015) document numerous examples of potential invaders found on marine litter beyond their natural dispersal range. They conclude that changes to the temporal and spatial availability of rafts, caused by the growing quantity of marine litter, probably facilitate the establishment of species in new regions.

Marine Litter Vital Graphics

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