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A Single Piece of Ingested Plastic Can Kill a Sea Turtle

posted by martyb on Friday September 14 2018, @12:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the teenage-mutant-ninja-plastic-eaters dept.

takyon writes:

'A single piece of plastic' can kill sea turtles, says study

A new study suggests that ingesting even a single piece of plastic can be deadly for sea turtles. Researchers found there was a one in five chance of death for a turtle who consumed just one item - rising to 50% for 14 pieces. The team found that younger turtles are at a higher risk of dying from exposure to plastic than adults.

The authors say their research raises concerns over the long term survival of some turtle species. The never ending surge of plastic into the world's oceans is taking an increasing toll on iconic marine species. While it has been relatively straightforward for researchers to document the threat to animals who become entangled in plastic and drown, determining the impact of consumed plastic is much harder.

The authors of this study estimate that around half of all the sea turtles on the planet have ingested plastic - this rises to 90% among juvenile green sea turtles off the coast of Brazil.

A quantitative analysis linking sea turtle mortality and plastic debris ingestion (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-30038-z) (DX)

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by acid andy on Friday September 14 2018, @01:04AM (3 children)

    by acid andy (1683) on Friday September 14 2018, @01:04AM (#734609) Homepage Journal

    I've no idea either. The point is that the sizes of the bits of plastic in the ocean will have a statistical distribution. The plastic found inside the turtles had to be small enough for them to swallow. From the study:

    The count and mass of debris ranged from a single piece to 329 pieces, weighing between

    Comparing turtle mortality to the number of pieces of plastic ingested I would say is more meaningful than, say, the total weight of plastic consumed, if you count each piece of plastic being eaten as a discrete event. I grant you that both comparisons would have been useful to have though. Maybe there's scope for a further study, if they don't go extinct first!

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  • (Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @04:09AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @04:09AM (#734690)

    Every other time plastic ingestion by sealife is posted on this site, it is about microplastics.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by acid andy on Friday September 14 2018, @06:36AM

      by acid andy (1683) on Friday September 14 2018, @06:36AM (#734721) Homepage Journal

      Nope [soylentnews.org]. Not [soylentnews.org]. Even [soylentnews.org]. Close [soylentnews.org].

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  • (Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Friday September 14 2018, @04:32PM

    by Osamabobama (5842) on Friday September 14 2018, @04:32PM (#734889)

    I think it's generally accepted that a single plastic drinking straw is universally fatal to sea turtles. The science is not yet complete on other shapes.

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