Plastic Waste in The Coral Reefs

By: Anisa MacOwan

This research project focuses on the effects that plastic has on Cold-Water Coral Reefs

(Trip Savvy, 2021)

Cold-water Coral reefs

Facts:

only two percent of the ocean floor, nearly 25 percent of all ocean species spend at least part of their lives on a reef (National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, 2020)
Coral reefs are critically important ecosystems and face a number of environmental and human-induced threats, including warming ocean waters, ocean acidification, the spread of disease (National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, 2020)

Importance of Coral Reefs

(TIM LAMAN, 2015)

Protection

Coral reef ecosystems provide the perfect habitat for small fish and marine life to seek shelter to hide from predators

(Andersson, 2014)

Oxygen

Roughly half of the oxygen we breathe comes from the ocean ecosystem and coral reefs play a vital role in the creation of this oxygen

(Tannin, 2016)

Breeding

Many forms of marine life use the coral reefs to lay their eggs and as a way to meet a mate to procreate with

Biodiversity

Defintion:

The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.

Importance:

Without the wide variety of species on the planet the ecosystems we as humans depend on will begin to fail.

(Profmauri, 2012)

Plastic Pollution and Coral reefs

Plastic pollution in the coral reef ecosystem is affecting the ability to maintain a good level of biodiversity, it is causing coral reef disease, and is attacking an ecosystem that is already under attack from the effect of climate change.

Research Question:

What are the effects of plastic pollution on cold-water coral reef ecosystems?

What we know about this topic:

Researchers already know how bad plastic waste is for marine birds and some marine life; they know that it is a choking hazard and can get wrapped around limbs and cause death (IUCN, 2021).
The most recent estimate of plastic in the oceans is “75 to 199 million tonnes of plastic” (UNEP, 2023)
There is a massive increase in the percentage of diseased warm-water coral after being exposed to plastic waste. The statistics showed that this percentage went from “4% to 89%” (Lamb, 2018, p.1)
Coral reef ecosystems are already threatened without even taking into consideration plastic pollution. As the ocean temperatures rise, the coral reefs are faced with ocean acidification and coral bleaching.
Coral reefs are lacking biodiversity, coral cover, and nutrient concentrations (Kim, 2022)

Theoretical Framework

CHANS theoretical framework stands for Coupled Human and Natural Systems This framework is a dynamic two-way interaction between human systems and natural systems. The key concept of the CHANS theoretical framework is the complexity between human and natural systems. These natural systems can be related to ecosystem services and this relation to human interaction

(Vanessa Hull, 2017)

(NPS photo, 2019)

Methods

Meta-Analysis Research:

Water Sampling
Coral disease sampling
Remote Sensing
Ecosystem mapping

*All of these methods will provide statistical data that can be analyzed over a long period and compared to other studies being done.

Resources

Battistin, G., Latella, L., & Iannilli, V. (2023). Microplastic pollution in the food web: observation of ingestion by the talitrid amphipod Cryptorchestia garbinii on the shores of Lake Garda. European Zoological Journal, 90(1), 73–82. https://doi-org.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/10.1080/24750263.2022.2160019

Bourzac, K. (2018). Plastic waste threatens coral reefs: Contact with plastic dramatically increases corals’ risk of disease. C&EN Global Enterprise, 96(5), 7. https://doi-org.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/10.1021/cen-09605-notw4

Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Kennedy, E. V., Beyer, H. L., McClennen, C., & Possingham, H. P. (2018). Securing a Long-term Future for Coral Reefs. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 33(12), 936–944. https://doi-org.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/10.1016/j.tree.2018 .09.006

"Marine plastic pollution." IUNC, IUCN, Nov. 2021, www.iucn.org/resources/issues -brief/marine-plastic-pollution.

Our planet is choking on plastic. (2023). European Union Environmental Program. https://www.unep.org/interactives/beat-plastic-pollution/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA3aeqBhBzEiwAxFiOBr3LNDEsmoCLGs4UtCFmBrQ89foc2re8DmMpXfYQqFMFAIPrppT9NhoCVRIQAvD_BwE

Jambeck, J. R., Geyer, R., Wilcox, C., Siegler, T. R., Perryman, M., Andrady, A., Narayan, R., & Law, K. L. (2015). Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science, 347(6223), 768–771. https://doi-org.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/10.1126/science. 1260352

Kim, C. J. S., Roelfsema, C., Dove, S., & Hoegh-Guldberg, O. (2022). The Condition of Four Coral Reefs in Timor-Leste before and after the 2016–2017 Marine Heatwave. Oceans (2673-1924), 3(2), 147–171. https://doi-org.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/ 10.3390/oceans3020012

Lamb, Joleah B., Bette L. Willis, Evan A. Fiorenza, Courtney S. Couch, Robert Howard, Douglas N. Rader, James D. True, et al. 2018. “Plastic Waste Associated with Disease on Coral Reefs.” Science 359 (6374): 460–62. doi:10.1126/science. aar3320.

Law, K. L., Starr, N., Siegler, T. R., Jambeck, J. R., Mallos, N. J., & Leonard, G. H. (2020). The United States' contribution of plastic waste to land and ocean.

Liou, J. (2022). What is Ocean Acidification?. International Atomic Energy Agency. https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/what-is-ocean-acidification#:~:text=The%20ocean%20is%20slightly%20basic,than%20in%20pre%2Dindustrial%20times.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. How much water is in the ocean?, NOAA, 5 June 2023, oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oceanwater.html.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. How much oxygen comes from the ocean?, NOAA, 22 Aug. 2023, oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ocean-oxygen.html# :~:text=Scientists%20estimate%20that%20roughly%20half,some%20bacteria%20that%20can%20photosynthesize.

Petsko, Emily. Why does so much of the ocean remain unexplored and unprotected?, Oceana, 8 June 2020, oceana.org/blog/why-does-so-much-ocean-remain- unexplored-and-unprotected/.

Science Advances, 6(44), 1–7. https://doi-org.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/10.1126/sciadv. Abd0288

Walker, T. (2019). Coral Bleaching. Ocean First Institute . https://www.oceanfirst institute.org/news/blog/coral-bleaching/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA3aeqBhBzEiwAxFiOBl4T_olEgjlpnPCA7ZTz_-uU2siF5J_pcWmpihQ8jkeP2J4YQycn-RoCx_0QAvD_BwE