‘Marine motorhome for microbes’ is killing coral

archive – Diving News'Marine motorhome for microbes' is killing coral

The focus on plastic pollution in the oceans has until now been on the dangers of it entering the food-chain. But new research from the USA's Cornell University indicates that the problem is considerably greater, with plastics joining forces with climate-change to kill coral reefs.

The study, just published in Science, suggests that because plastic debris is heavily inhabited by bacteria, when it comes into contact with coral the likelihood of disease increases twenty-fold, from 4 to 89%.

Such contact intensifies the effects of a group of devastating coral diseases that include “white syndromes”.

Over four years the scientists surveyed 159 coral reefs in the Asia-Pacific region, in Indonesia, Australia, Burma and Thailand, visually examining almost 125,000 reef-building corals for tissue-loss and disease lesions.

They found that the number of plastic items on reefs varied widely, from 0.4 items per 100sq m in Australia rising to 25.6 items in an equivalent area in Indonesia.

The scientists estimate that some 11.1 billion plastic items are already entangled on reefs across the Asia-Pacific region, and expect the figure to rise by 40% in the next seven years.

“Plastic debris acts like a marine motorhome for microbes,” said lead author Joleah Lamb, a post-doctoral research fellow at Cornell who began collecting the data while she was at James Cook University in Australia.

“Plastics make ideal vessels for colonising microscopic organisms that could trigger disease if they come into contact with corals.”

Polypropylene items such as bottle-tops and toothbrushes that can become heavily inhabited by bacteria were a particular threat.

“What’s troubling about coral disease is that once the coral tissue loss occurs, it’s not coming back,” said Lamb. “It’s like getting gangrene on your foot, and there is nothing you can do to stop it from affecting your whole body.

“This study demonstrates that reductions in the amount of plastic waste entering the ocean will have direct benefits to coral reefs by reducing disease-associated mortality.”

The report “Plastic Waste Associated with Disease on Coral Reefs” can be found here.

Divernet – The Biggest Online Resource for Scuba Divers

26-Jan-18

How Do You Attach a Jon Line? @BrentHollett #askmark #scuba

LET’S KEEP IN TOUCH!

Get a weekly roundup of all Divernet news and articles Scuba Mask
We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Connect With Us

0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x