Plastics are a threat to many of our planet's ocean-dwelling animals and us, as when they are ingested they can cause myriad health issues. However, according to a new study, some plankton species may actually be making the situation even worse.
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00:00 Plastics are a threat to many of our planet's ocean-dwelling animals and us, as when they
00:07 are ingested they can cause myriad health issues.
00:10 However, according to a new study, some plankton species may actually be making the situation
00:15 even worse.
00:16 University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers say that microscopic plankton are ingesting
00:21 tiny particles of plastic called microplastics.
00:24 They then process it and excrete nanoplastic particles, exacerbating the already catastrophic
00:29 issue.
00:30 They say each individual zooplankton can process upwards of 366,000 nanoparticles a day, and
00:36 in a single freshwater lake in China, that amounts to an astounding 13.3 quadrillion
00:41 particles in a 24-hour period.
00:44 With the researchers saying about their findings, "Scale this up to all of the oceans and
00:48 fresh bodies of water, where both microplastics and rotifiers are present, and the number
00:52 of nanoplastic particles created every day is mind-boggling."
00:56 Microplastics and nanoplastics aren't just inherently toxic to living organisms.
01:00 They can also carry other environmental contaminants along with them, and their inherent toxicity
01:04 tends to rise as they're broken down into smaller bits, as the chemical additives in
01:08 the plastic are enhanced and released, meaning the micro- and nanoplastics problem may be
01:14 about to get a whole lot worse.
01:16 [music]
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