In the global war against plastics contamination, a groundbreaking Griffith University study has found Antarctic krill which ingest microplastics are able to turn them into nanoplastics through digestion.
The study, which formed the PhD research of Dr Amanda Dawson, was published in Nature Communications this week. The work was conducted under Associate Professor Susan Bengtson Nash’s Southern Persistent Organic Pollutants Program (SOPOPP) in collaboration with the Australian Antarctic Division, and has uncovered the ability of an Antarctic species to physically change ingested microplastics in a way not previously described.
“Despite a growing body of research, there are still considerable knowledge gaps regarding spatial patterns and abundance of microplastics in the marine environment,’’ Dr Dawson said.
“The phenomena of digestive fragmentation has never before been reported in other planktonic crustaceans despite the facts that many possess similar gastric mills and mouthparts designed for mechanical disruptions.”
The researchers also identified the potential for translocation (movement across
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