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Marine Debris: A Study of the Abundance, Distribution and Effects of Plastic Debris in Oceanic Ecosystem
Summary
This study examined the abundance, distribution, and ecological effects of plastic debris in oceanic ecosystems, addressing the challenges of monitoring plastic waste given its wide temporal and spatial variability. The review identifies entanglement and ingestion as primary harm mechanisms for marine species, and highlights additional risks including chemical transfer from ingested plastics and facilitation of invasive species transport.
Marine systems are significantly impacted by plastic waste both economically and environmentally. Monitoring is essential for evaluating the effectiveness of policies put in place to lessen the amount of plastic waste, but it is made more difficult by the wide variations in the amounts of plastic waste over time and space, as well as our incomplete knowledge of the routes that plastic waste takes and its ultimate destiny. The cross-sectional line and the high strandline have different patterns of small plastic debris's spatial distribution. Different plastic categories had different cross-sectional distributions of small plastic abundance, suggesting the need for representative beach sample of small plastic debris. Given that many marine species are already threatened due to other anthropogenic activities, it is well recognized that plastic waste harms and/or kills a significant proportion of them. The main way that plastic waste affects marine life is through entanglement and ingestion. Other less well-knownrisks include the absorption of polychlorinated biphenyls from consumed plastics and the utilization of plastic waste by "invader" species. Even less noticeable types, including plastic pellets and "scrubbers," can be dangerous.