We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Increased oceanic microplastic debris enhances oviposition in an endemic pelagic insect
Summary
A field study found that a pelagic insect species preferentially lays its eggs on floating plastic debris rather than on naturally occurring materials, apparently because plastic more reliably mimics the surface cues the insect uses to locate oviposition sites. This behavioral response means that microplastic abundance in the ocean could alter the population dynamics of open-ocean species that depend on floating substrates.
Plastic pollution in the form of small particles (diameter less than 5 mm)--termed 'microplastic'--has been observed in many parts of the world ocean. They are known to interact with biota on the individual level, e.g. through ingestion, but their population-level impacts are largely unknown. One potential mechanism for microplastic-induced alteration of pelagic ecosystems is through the introduction of hard-substrate habitat to ecosystems where it is naturally rare. Here, we show that microplastic concentrations in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) have increased by two orders of magnitude in the past four decades, and that this increase has released the pelagic insect Halobates sericeus from substrate limitation for oviposition. High concentrations of microplastic in the NPSG resulted in a positive correlation between H. sericeus and microplastic, and an overall increase in H. sericeus egg densities. Predation on H. sericeus eggs and recent hatchlings may facilitate the transfer of energy between pelagic- and substrate-associated assemblages. The dynamics of hard-substrate-associated organisms may be important to understanding the ecological impacts of oceanic microplastic pollution.