MICROPLASTIC A THREAT TO GREAT BARRIER REEF...
Researchers in Australia have found that corals commonly found on the Great Barrier Reef will eat micro-plastic pollution.
Microplastics are tiny fragments of plastic in the environment and are a widespread contaminant in marine ecosystems, particularly in inshore coral reefs.
Despite the proliferation of microplastics, their impact on marine ecosystems is poorly understood.
Marine plastic pollution is a global problem and microplastics can have negative effects on the health of marine organisms. The aim was to determine whether corals from inshore coral reefs consume microplastics, and whether there is potential for plastic pollution to affect coral reefs.
Corals are non-selective feeders and the results show that they can consume microplastics when the plastics are present in seawater. If microplastic pollution increases on the Great Barrier Reef, corals could be negatively affected as their tiny stomach-cavities become full of indigestible plastic.
As part of the study the researchers put corals collected from the Great Barrier Reef into plastic contaminated water. After two nights they found that the corals had eaten plastic particles.
Corals get energy from photosynthesis by symbiotic algae living within their tissues, but they also feed on a variety of other food including zooplankton, sediment and other microscopic organisms that live in seawater
The plastic was found deep inside the coral polyp wrapped in digestive tissue, raising concerns that it might impede the corals ability to digest its normal food.
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