Some 12 million tons of plastic waste are dumped into the planet's seas each year. Among them are packaging of all kinds and the remains of innumerable industrial processes. Over time, these break down into tiny particles less than a millimeter in size .
Now, a team of researchers from different institutions in Belgium and France, coordinated by experts from the Marine Environmental Sciences Laboratory, in the latter country, has determined that these residues significantly alter the reproductive cycle of oysters. Thus, after just two months, a group of Pacific specimens raised in an environment that simulated exposure to microplastics had offspring 41% smaller than normal .
In a study published in the journal PNAS, these scientists indicate that the aforementioned compounds appear to negatively affect the quality and quantity of the reproductive cells produced by these mollusks. Ecologists suspect that they assimilate microplastics when ingested, as they are similar in size to the phytoplankton they usually feed on.
Image: NOAA
