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Regionally disparate ecological responses to microplastic slowing of faecal pellets yields coherent carbon cycle response
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This study modeled how microplastics slow the sinking of zooplankton fecal pellets and found that, despite regional variation in the ecological response, the net effect on the ocean carbon pump is a coherent reduction in carbon export to the deep ocean across different ocean regions.
Microplastic is a ubiquitous marine pollutant whose small dimensions make it biologically available to phytoplankton and zooplankton. These organisms are crucial as the basis of the marine food web and for the export of organic material in the form of faecal pellets from the surface to deeper in the water column, forming a long-term carbon sink. Previous laboratory studies have demonstrated empirically that ingestion of low density microplastics reduces the sinking rates of zooplankton faecal pellets. This study uses a complex earth system model to analyse this effect and assess its wider impacts in a changing climate. Results show that the slowing of faecal pellet sinking stimulates changes to ecosystems regionally and reduces ocean carbon uptake by about 4.4 Pg C between the years 1950-2100, 0.24% of anthropogenic emissions over this time. However, perturbation of organic particle fluxes is significant, especially in gyres, and of the order of climate change impacts over the same time period. We calculate that plastics carbon has a 3 orders of magnitude greater impact on marine ecosystems than atmospheric carbon over our centennial timescale. Large uncertainties in model parameters and simplistic model structure suggest our results should be interpreted as motivation to further investigate parameter estimation, calcification responses to pollution, and the combined effects of multiple impact mechanisms on ecosystems.
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Microplastics Alter the Properties and Sinking Rates of Zooplankton Faecal Pellets
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Researchers found that when zooplankton ingest microplastics, the plastic particles become embedded in their fecal pellets, making those pellets smaller, less dense, and slower to sink. Since these pellets normally help transport carbon from the ocean surface to the deep sea as part of the biological pump, altered sinking rates could disrupt this important carbon cycle process. The study reveals a previously unrecognized way that microplastic pollution could affect ocean chemistry and climate regulation.
Data in support of 'Regionally disparate ecological responses to microplastic slowing of faecal pellets yields coherent carbon cycle response'
AI summary Read the abstract
This is a data repository record containing model code supporting a study on how microplastics slow the sinking speed of zooplankton fecal pellets in the ocean, affecting carbon export to the deep sea. The study's ocean circulation model simulated how this slowing effect varies by marine region.
Data in support of Supplement to 'Regionally disparate ecological responses to microplastic slowing of faecal pellets yields coherent carbon cycle response'
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This is a data repository record containing model code and output files supporting a published study on how microplastics slow the sinking of zooplankton fecal pellets, which affects how carbon moves from ocean surface waters to the deep sea. The associated study found that even when ecological responses varied by region, the overall effect on the ocean carbon cycle was consistent.
The faecal microplastic pump: Zooplankton efficiently transport microplastics to the ocean depths
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Researchers quantified how zooplankton grazing and sinking fecal pellets drive the bulk of microplastic export below 1000 meters in the open ocean, identifying this "fecal pump" as a critical pathway for deep-sea microplastic sequestration that outweighs polymer-density-driven sinking in offshore waters.
Data in support of 'Regionally disparate ecological responses to microplastic slowing of faecal pellets yields coherent carbon cycle response'
AI summary Read the abstract
This is a duplicate data repository entry for the study examining how microplastics affect the sinking of zooplankton fecal pellets and the ocean carbon cycle. The repository contains model output for simulations with and without microplastic effects on pellet sinking rates.
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