Taiwan’s top research institute, Academia Sinica, has published a paper that says that microplastics in the ocean triple the rate of mortality among juvenile marine animals. The article was published in the December edition of the scientific journal Environmental Pollution.
Microplastics are pieces of plastic smaller than five millimeters. Marine animals often mistake them for food. Microplastics enter the ocean because of eroding garbage flowing into water sources.
The study focuses on a type of barnacle. Researchers raised barnacles, fed them various quantities of polystyrene, and bred them. The study found that, overall, juvenile mortality rates among the next generation of barnacles were three times higher than normal. If the microplastics ingested by the barnacles were similar to bacteria in size, then juvenile mortality rates were even higher.
Researchers say that invertebrates that ingest microplastics do not suffer immediate negative effects. However, it’s apparent that the poisonous effects of microplastics on subsequent generations of organisms can accumulate.