A global inventory of small floating plastic debris

Abstract

Microplastic debris floating at the ocean surface can harm marine life. Understanding the severity of this harm requires knowledge of plastic abundance and distributions. Dozens of expeditions measuring microplastics have been carried out since the 1970s, but they have primarily focused on the North Atlantic and North Pacific accumulation zones, with much sparser coverage elsewhere. Here, we use the largest dataset of microplastic measurements assembled to date to assess the confidence we can have in global estimates of microplastic abundance and mass. We use a rigorous statistical framework to standardize a global dataset of plastic marine debris measured using surface-trawling plankton nets and coupled this with three different ocean circulation models to spatially interpolate the observations. Our estimates show that the accumulated number of microplastic particles in 2014 ranges from 15 to 51 trillion particles, weighing between 93 and 236 thousand metric tons, which is only approximately 1% of global plastic waste estimated to enter the ocean in the year 2010. These estimates are larger than previous global estimates, but vary widely because the scarcity of data in most of the world ocean, differences in model formulations, and fundamental knowledge gaps in the sources, transformations and fates of microplastics in the ocean.

Microplastic-Associated Biofilms: A Comparison of Freshwater and Marine Environments

“…Microplastics (particles with an upper size limit of <5 mm) are globally distributed within aquatic environments, with up to 51 trillion pieces estimated to float at sea alone [1,2]. They are encountered within the water column and sediments, with the latter functioning as a sink for the accumulation of plastic waste [3][4][5].…”

“…For example, while microplastic-associated microbial (bacterial, archaeal, and picoeukaryotic) assemblages are likely to profoundly influence the distribution, impacts, and fate of these pollutants, research into this topic has focused on marine environments [11][12][13]. In streams and other habitats, biofilms 1 are primary sites for carbon and nutrient transformations and form the base of food webs, contributing to local and global ecosystem functioning [14]. As they are also essential to pollutant biodegradation, an improved knowledge of microbial-microplastic interactions is required to predict the environmental impacts of plastic debris [15].…”

Microplastic: What Are the Solutions?

“…Regional and global estimates of floating debris have come forth [9,10]. Estimates of environmental concentrations have ranged from 8 million tons of plastic leaving shorelines globally each year [11], compared to one estimate of a quarter million tons drifting at sea [12].…”

Micro-and macro-plastics in marine species from Nordic waters

“…Furthermore, plastics can be transported over long ranges, as is evidenced by accumulation of plastics in areas far from the source locations (Law et al, 2010;van Sebille et al, 2015). However, there is limited and insufficient knowledge on bioaccumulation and adverse effects of plastics (Rochman, Browne et al, 2013).…”