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Modelling the global biological microplastic particle sink
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Researchers modeled the global biological sink for microplastic particles, estimating that ingestion and fecal pellet packaging by marine zooplankton accelerates the sinking of buoyant plastics to depth. This study suggests that biological processes may account for a substantial portion of the missing plastic that disappears from ocean surface surveys.
Forty percent of the plastic produced annually ends up in the ocean. What happens to the plastic after that is poorly understood, though a growing body of data suggests it is rapidly spreading throughout the ocean. The mechanisms of this spread are not straightforward for small, weakly or neutrally buoyant plastic size fractions (the microplastics), in part because they aggregate in marine snow and are consumed by zooplankton. This biological transport pathway is suspected to be a primary surface microplastic removal mechanism, but exactly how it might work in the real ocean is unknown. We search the parameter space of a new microplastic model embedded in an earth system model to show biological uptake significantly shapes global microplastic inventory and distributions, despite its being an apparently inefficient removal pathway.
More Papers Like This
The global biological microplastic particle sink
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This study examined the role of biological processes — including ingestion, biofouling, and sinking of fecal pellets — in creating a global biological sink for microplastic particles at depth in the ocean. It estimated that roughly 4% of annual plastic waste enters the ocean, and biological packaging of plastics into dense aggregates and fecal pellets accelerates particle sinking.
Global modeled sinking characteristics of biofouled microplastic
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Researchers used a global ocean circulation model coupled with a biofouling submodel to estimate sinking timescales for microplastics globally, finding that most buoyant particles sink to depth within weeks to months due to algal colonization. The modeling results explain why ocean surface plastic concentrations are much lower than expected based on input estimates.
Global Modeled Sinking Characteristics of Biofouled Microplastic
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Researchers developed a global model of microplastic biofouling and sinking using satellite oceanographic data to estimate where and when buoyant plastic particles sink out of the surface ocean, finding that sinking timescales ranged from days in tropical waters to months in high-latitude regions depending on temperature and productivity.
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.
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.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.