Ocean bugs may be eating plastics

• Autores: Michael Le Page
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3128, 2017, pág. 10
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Plastic production is rising exponentially, so ever more of it should be ending up in the oceans, says Ricard Solé at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain. But surveys of areas where floating plastic accumulates, such as the North Atlantic gyre, are finding much less than expected. In fact, there is only a tenth to a hundredth as much plastic as anticipated--and the amount doesn't appear to be increasing. This constancy can't be explained by physical processes, according to the mathematical models Sole and his team used. Instead, they propose that there has been a population boom in microbes that have evolved the ability to biodegrade plastic