In one study Published on Environmental science and technologythere was talk of the experiment in which scientists have sampled and analyzed the glacial alga Melosira arctica and ambient seawater from three locations in Fram Strait to assess their microplastic content and potential as a temporary sink and pathway to the deep seabed.
Microplastics are everywhere, causing hormone disruptions, crossing the blood-brain barrier in mice and even found in the stomachs of the largest creatures on Earth. There are an estimated 171 trillion pieces of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans. Even in remote places microplastics persist in these extreme environments, and new research has found that microplastics have even been found within algae growing under sea ice in the Arctic.
Melosira arctica is a type of ice algae which grows under sea ice in the Arctic, from the Canada Basin to northeastern Greenland. This is an important keystone species and feeds many types of zooplankton near the water surface. In the summer months the algae, which can form long sticky nets and ropes about 3 meters (9.8 ft) long, float freely or sink to the ocean floor, where they provide food for seabed-dwelling creatures such as sea cucumbers. sea and brittle stars.
What has been discovered from the analysis of Melosira arctica
Microplastics have been found at very high levels within the Arctic sea ice, and the team wanted to see if the microplastics ended up inside the algae, and then spread up the food chain as the ice melted and from the surrounding sea.
Samples were collected within the Arctic Circle from three locations in 2021. Samples were taken from Melosira arctica floating freely among the sea ice and a sample of the surrounding seawater was also taken.
After analyzing the samples using Raman and fluorescence microscopy, the team found that all contained microplastics in concentrations ranging from 13,000 to 57,000 microplastics per cubic meter within the ice algae. In the seawater also sampled, concentrations ranged between 1,400 and 4,500 microplastics per cubic metre. The algae had about ten times more microplastic particles than the surrounding seawater. Of the total microplastic particles that were found, 94% were 10 micrometres or less in size.
“Filamentous algae have a slimy, sticky texture, so they potentially pick up microplastics from atmospheric deposition over the sea, seawater itself, surrounding ice, and any other passing sources. Once trapped in the algal slime, they travel like an elevator to the bottom of the sea, or are eaten by marine animals.”
explains Deonie Allen of the University of Canterbury and the University of Birmingham, who is part of the research team, in a statement.
Unfortunately, the team believes that Melosira arctica acts as a reservoir for microplastics, and given that these ice algae are fed by many creatures, both on the surface of the water and as the algae sink to the sea floor, this indicates that Melosira arctica are a key vector in the transport of these microplastics to other organisms in the Arctic ecosystem.
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