Scientists Offers a Solution in Combatting Ocean Pollution Plastic bottles floating in the water; bags in turtle bellies; Covid-19 masks dancing in the surf: few photographs are as revolting as those depicting the pollution of our seas.
Seagrass Neptune balls’ trap millions of plastics from the ocean, study finds
Isabella O Malley
Scientists from the University of Barcelona noticed an interesting behaviour in seagrass (
Posidonia oceanica) located in the Mediterranean the gently swaying plants captured and bundled bits of plastic pollution into balls that eventually rolled onto shore. The researchers were stunned by the ability of marine plants to unintentionally filter and remove plastic pollution so they explored just how much plastic could be swept out from the sea.
Oceans are often the final destination for plastics and other pieces of garbage that are discarded on land. However, not all plastics remain dormant once they enter the oceans and scientists say that there is evidence that shows some plastics are washed back up to the shoreline. The University of Barcelona researchers’ study, published in
Seagrass in coastal areas act
as a natural sieve, collecting plastic into natural bundles of seagrass fiber called ‘Neptune Balls,’ according to research published in
Scientific Reports. The report states that seagrass in the Mediterranean alone may collect almost 900 million plastic items per year.
“We show that plastic debris in the seafloor can be trapped in seagrass remains, eventually leaving the marine environment through beaching,” Anna Sanchez-Vidal, lead author and a marine biologist at the University of Barcelona, told AFP. This “represents a continuous purge of plastic debris out of the sea,” Sanchez-Vidal added.
Widespread in shallow, coastal waters, seagrass trap and bind sediment particles that form the seabed. Researchers measured the amount of plastic debris found in seagrass litter for a year to understand how much plastic also ends up trapped in seagrass during this process. They studied one specific Mediterranean species
Seagrass in Coastal Areas are Trapping Plastic as Humans Don t Cut Pollution
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Underwater seagrass in coastal areas appear to trap bits of plastic in natural bundles of fibre known as Neptune balls, researchers said Thursday.
With no help from humans, the swaying plants anchored to shallow seabeds may collect nearly 900 million plastic items in the Mediterranean alone every year, they reported in the journal Scientific Reports. We show that plastic debris in the seafloor can be trapped in seagrass remains, eventually leaving the marine environment through beaching, lead author Anna Sanchez-Vidal, a marine biologist at the University of Barcelona, told AFP.