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Microplastics in the final ocean frontier

Courtene-Jones, Winnie; Quinn, Brian; Gary, Stefan; E. Narayanaswamy, Bhavani

Published: 25/05/2016

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Citation for published version (APA):Courtene-Jones, W., Quinn, B., Gary, S., & E. Narayanaswamy, B. (2016). Microplastics in the final oceanfrontier. Poster session presented at MICRO 2016, Arrecife, Lanzarote, Spain.

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Download date: 06 Jul 2020

Microplastics In The Final Ocean Frontier

W. Courtene-Jones1, B. Quinn2, S. Gary1, B. Narayanaswamy1 1. SAMS, Scottish Marine Institute, Oban, Scotland, UK

2. University of West Scotland, Paisley, UK

winnie.courtene-jones@sams.ac.uk - @WinnieCJ

References Eriksen, M. Lebreton, L.C.M. Carson, H.S. Thiel, M. Moore, C.J. Borerro, J.C. Galgani, F. Ryan, P.G. Reisser, J. (2014) Plastic pollution in the world’s oceans: more than 5 trillion plastic pieces weighing over 250,000 tons afloat at sea, PLoS one. 9:e111913

Gage, J.D. & Tyler, P.A. (1991) Deep-sea biology: a natural history of organisms at the deep-sea floor, Cambridge University Press

Schlining, K. von Thun, S. Kuhnz, L. Schlining, B. Lundsten, L. Stout, N.J. Chaney, L. Connor, J. (2013) Debris in the deep: Using a 22-year video annotation database to survey marine litter in Monterey Canyon, central California, USA. Deep-Sea Res PT I. 79, pp.96–105.

Thurber, A.R. Sweetman, A.K. Narayanaswamy, B.E. Jones, D.O.B. Ingels, J. Hansman, R.L. (2014) Ecosystem function and services provided by the deep sea. Biogeosciences. 11, pp.3941–3963.

Woodall, L.C. Sanchez-Vidal, A. Canals, M. Paterson, G.L.J. Coppock, R. Sleight, V. Calafat, A. Rogers, A.D. Narayanaswamy, B.E. Thompson, R.C. (2014) The deep sea is a major sink for microplastic debris, R. Soc open sci. 1:140317

Introduction

The deep-sea is classified as the portion of the ocean

deeper than 200m off the continental slope (Gage & Tyler, 1991).

This are covers over half of the Earth’s surface and supports

an incredibly rich diversity of species (Thurber et al. 2014). This

remote region has largely remained out of sight out of mind,

however the deep-sea is vulnerable to a number of

anthropogenic impacts. Macroplastics are recorded

extensively in the deep-sea (e.g. Schlining et al. 2013). Concern is

mounting regarding microplastics as these small persistent

plastics represent one of the greatest threats to ecosystem

functioning and services.

Worldwide distribution of microplastics is patchy and

current estimates suggest lower quantities in surface waters

than expected (Eriksen et al. 2014). Microplastics have been

reported in deep-sea sediments (Woodall et al. 2014), hypothesising

the deep-sea may be a sink for this pollutant. The ultimate

fate of marine microplastics is not well understood; while

numerous species are reported to ingest microplastics,

currently no studies have considered whether the deep-sea

benthic community is also susceptible.

Long-term monitoring site in Rockall Trough. Location forms a monitoring point on the Ellett line survey

http://projects.noc.ac.uk/ExtendedEllettLine/project-information

Lamont/SAMS Gage/SAMS

Pictures Gage/SAMS

Aims

My study presents first of its kind research,

focussing on a long-term time series of deep-

sea fauna collected from the Rockall Trough

dating back to the mid-1970s. I aim to address

the following questions:

• Are deep-sea benthic fauna ingesting

microplastics?

• Can we detect when microplastics

arrived in the deep-sea?

• What is the timescale and potential

vertical transport routes of

microplastics to the deep-sea?

Method

• Rapid and efficient enzymatic digestion of deep-sea

benthic macrofauna

– Focus on echinoderms displaying a range of feeding

strategies

• Identification & quantification of ingested microplastics

– Visual & ATR-FTIR spectrometry

– Characterise microplastics

– Do quantities vary with feeding mechanism?

• Examining historical specimens: Are there decadal

trends in ingested microplastics quantities ?

• Modelling distribution & vertical transport routes of

microplastics to Rockall Trough

Deep-sea benthic fauna from the Rockall Trough, ~2200m deep

Example of the diversity of deep-sea benthic macrofauna

obtained from one trawl from the Rockall Trough, ~2200m

deep

Epibenthic sled with net trailing behind on

deck of research vessel, used to collect deep-

sea fauna samples

Bivalve Ophiuroid

Holothurians Ophiuroid

Ophiuroid