Sonja M. Ehlers1, Julius A. Ellrich2, Shunji Furukuma3, Bernadette Pogoda2, Jochen H. E. Koop4
1Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), Germany - 2Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Germany - 3Independant researcher, Japan - 4University of Koblenz, Germany
Interactions between marine animals and plastic pollution such as plastic ingestion and entanglement in fishing gear have been studied extensively over the past decades. However, these studies mostly focused on marine mammals and fish, largely neglecting other organisms such as reef-building oysters, polychaetes, barnacles and reef-inhabiting snails. With our research, we would like to draw attention to so far unknown interactions between these relatively understudied marine invertebrates and plastic pollution. We found that rocky intertidal snails (topshells) from the North Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean ingest microplastics (MPs, plastics < 5 mm) with the majority being polymer-based paint chips. These paint chips have recently gained more attention because they significantly contribute to environmental MP pollution. Paint chips can, for instance, stem from ship varnish and reach the environment due to weathering processes and ship maintenance. Furthermore, positive correlations between snail and water MP loads revealed that topshells are useful MP bioindicators in rocky intertidal habitats. So far, there is no established MP bioindicator for these habitats even though they are highly polluted. In another study, we investigated how sessile Pacific oysters and tube-building polychaetes permanently fix plastic fibers from marine ropes to benthic substrates, thereby changing the fate of fixed fibers which would normally float in seawater. Finally, we observed that discarded foil-like pollutants stemming from durable wet wipes can tightly cover sessile barnacles. This cover completely sealed the barnacles from the environment which may ultimately limit the barnaclesꞌ ability to feed, breath, reproduce and survive. Such a cover is especially detrimental for sessile organisms which cannot free themselves. In conclusion, our research shows that there are research gaps regarding animal-plastic interactions which need to be further investigated.
Biography
Dr Sonja M. Ehlers is a biologist with a background in animal ecology who is working on plastic pollution in freshwater and marine ecosystems. She is leading a microplastic monitoring project in Northern Germany and conducts polymer type identification with µFTIR and FTIR. Furthermore, she investigates interactions between animals and plastic as well as the formation of geological plastic pollution types like plasticrust, pyroplastic, plastiglomerate and plastitar.