For extensive information on plastic, how it gets into the oceans, what happens to it in the oceans, how plastic debris is hurting, poisoning, and killing marine animals through entanglement and ingestion, go to:
This PowerPoint presentation covers the following:
About plastic and plastic in the oceans
- What is plastic?
- What is plastic so bad for our environment?
- How much plastic gets into our oceans and how does it get there?
- From land sources
- From ocean sources
- What happens to plastics in the oceans?
- Photodegradation and fragmentation
- Floating, sinking, and suspended plastic
- Ocean gyres, the North Pacific and the North Atlantic gyres
The 4 major problems with plastics in the oceans
1. LEACHING AND ABSORPTION
- Toxic chemicals that are leached and absorbed by plastic
- Bioaccumulation and biomagnification
- How the toxic chemicals from leaching and absorption of plastic are affecting both marine animals and human
How plastics are hurting, poisoning, and killing marine animals:
2. ENTANGLEMENT
- Which debris causes the most entanglement
- Results of entanglement
- Victims of entanglement:
- Seabirds
- Sea turtles
- Seals and sea lions
- Cetacean species (Whales, dolphins, porpoises)
3. INGESTION
- Why marine animals ingest plastic
- Results of ingestion of plastic by marine animals
- Which marine animals ingest plastic and how they are affected?:
- Seabirds
- Sea turtles
- Marine mammals
- Fish
- Small filter feeders and plankton
4. SPREAD OF INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES
The current status of plastic disposal and some of the things that we can do
Feature image: Chris Jordan