Plastic pollution in the oceans is harming bacteria that create 10% of the oxygen we need to breathe, study finds
- Researchers took fragments of a thin plastic carrier bag and PVC matting
- Experts from Macquarie University left them in artificial seawater for five days
- Bacteria called Prochlorococcus were then exposed to the artificial ‘seawater
- This changed their growth pattern and triggered genes linked to stress
Plastic pollution in oceans could be harming the bacteria humans need to help us breathe.
A tenth of the oxygen we breathe comes from just one type of ocean bacteria, through photosynthesis.
But a study has found chemicals which leach from plastic waste can stop the bacteria producing oxygen and harm its growth.
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Plastic pollution in oceans could be harming the bacteria (pictured) humans need to help us breathe. A tenth of the oxygen we breathe comes from just one type of ocean bacteria, through photosynthesis
Scientists took fragments of a thin plastic carrier bag and PVC matting, which were left in artificial seawater for five days.
When their chemicals had leached out, the bacteria called Prochlorococcus were exposed to the ‘seawater’, which changed their growth pattern and triggered genes linked to stress.
The findings raise significant concerns, with plastic in the ocean set to outweigh fish by 2050 and the bacteria it affects so vital to the air we need to survive.
Dr Lisa Moore, a co-author of the study from Macquarie University in Australia, said: ‘These tiny micro-organisms are critical to the marine food web, contribute to carbon cycling and are thought to be responsible for up to 10 per cent of the total global oxygen production.
‘So one in every 10 breaths of oxygen you breathe in is thanks to these little guys, yet almost nothing is known about how marine bacteria, such as Prochlorococcus, respond to human pollutants.’
Lead author Dr Sasha Tetu, from the same university, said: ‘Our data shows that plastic pollution may have widespread ecosystem impacts beyond the known effects on macro-organisms, such as seabirds and turtles.’ Much of the research on ocean pollution focuses on fish and other marine life swallowing or becoming tangled in plastic. However the material also threatens the ocean’s smallest inhabitants.
A study has found chemicals which leach from plastic waste (pictured) can stop the bacteria producing oxygen and harm its growth. The findings raise significant concerns, with plastic in the ocean set to outweigh fish by 2050
It is cyanobacteria like Prochlorococcus which are believed to have first made Earth habitable for animal and human life, by using photosynthesis to turn energy from the sun and water into breathable oxygen.
Now there are around three octillion tiny green Prochlorococcus bacteria living in the world’s oceans. To understand that huge figure, an octillion has 27 zeros on the end, while a million has six zeros and a billion has nine.
To see if plastic might affect the bacteria, researchers exposed cells from two strains found at different depths of the ocean to the chemicals leached from plastic bags and PVC.
PVC had the worst effect, entirely stopping oxygen production in one of the strains after 24 hours.
Chemicals from the grey plastic grocery bags started reducing oxygen production in both strains after 24 hours.
Both chemicals stopped the bacteria growing properly, and meant they did not photosynthesise as well, while changing the activity of their genes.
The study, found in the journal Communications Biology, suggests that PVC may be most harmful as it contains ‘plasticisers’ to make the material more flexible, as well as harsh chemicals to keep it clean and regulate its temperature.
Dr Tetu said: ‘Now we’d like to explore if plastic pollution is having the same impact on these microbes in the ocean.’
