“The potential that plastics are releasing bio-inhibitory compounds during photodegradation in the ocean could impact microbial community productivity and structure, with unknown consequences for the biogeochemistry and ecology of the ocean,”
They want funding next year.
Net/net of the article: The sun breaks down plastics in the ocean and what is released is bio-available, ie food for stuff.
Net/net of the article: The sun breaks down plastics in the ocean and what is released is bio-available, ie food for stuff.
Couldn’t plastic be degraded into harmless chemicals, in treatment plants, before it is dumped into the oceans, just as human waste is rendered harmless?
we need to dump more stuff into the oceans...
Net/net of the article: The sun breaks down plastics in the ocean and what is released is bio-available, ie food for stuff.
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This is stunning and so unexpected considering that plastics are made from organic material. /sarc
In a somewhat related phenomenon:
“Vehicles may crowd the asphalt of downtown Los Angeles freeways above ground, but below ground hundreds of newly discovered bacteria thrive by munching on heavy oil and natural asphalt. Trapped in the Rancho La Brea tar pits 28,000 years ago, the bacteria are equipped with special enzymes that can break down petroleum”
Source: https://www.livescience.com/1515-asphalt-munching-bacteria-discovered.html
Life on Earth is relentless.
/ simulated sunlight increased the amount of dissolved carbon in the water /
Hmmmm, doesn’t take a thermodynamics physicist to extrapolate this to “Climate Change” resolution.
It’s racist to accuse India and China. Why? Just ‘cause it is.
Stupid-Useless-Paper-Straws BUMP
Enter George Carlin:
The earth doesn’t share our prejudice towards plastic.....
95% of river-borne plastic polluting the world's oceans comes from just TEN rivers
So tossing plastic in the ocean is the best thing we can do for the environment? Neat! Off to the shore now ...
The sea has a bunch of oil leaking into it all the time and always has. Oil naturally leaks out of the ground.
The sea has a way of dealing with all of this oil.
It uses the same method on plastic.
Why would this be puzzling?
The wording of the title is unfortunate. The plastics don’t “go missing”, they are broken down by sunlight, and are consumed by natural biological organisms.