Origins and Biological Accumulation of Small Plastic Particles in Fur Seals From Macquarie Island

• Other Authors: BURTON, HARRY (hasPrincipalInvestigator), BURTON, HARRY (processor), ERIKSSON, CECILIA (hasPrincipalInvestigator), ERIKSSON, CECILIA (processor), Australian Antarctic Data Centre (publisher)
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Australian Antarctic Data Centre
• Subjects: biota; environment; oceans; ISLANDS; EARTH SCIENCE; BIOSPHERE; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; CONTAMINANT LEVELS/SPILLS; HUMAN DIMENSIONS; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS; WATER MANAGEMENT; ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE/MANAGEMENT; ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES; BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION; FISH; MAMMALS; EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > PELAGIC; USE/FEEDING HABITATS; ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS; SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS; FEEDING; FEEDSTOCK; FUR SEALS; MACQUARIE ISLAND; PLASTIC; SCANNING ELECTRON MICROGRAPH; POLYMER; SCAT; SEM; VISUAL OBSERVATIONS; FIELD SURVEYS; OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN; SOUTHERN OCEAN > GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR; Southern Ocean; Macquarie Island
• Online Access: https://researchdata.ands.org.au/origins-biological-accumulation-macquarie-island/701458; https://doi.org/10.26179/5c9c01897ed60; https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/plastics_fur_seals; http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-617536

From the abstract of the referenced paper: One hundred and sixty four plastic particles (mean length 4.1 mm) recovered from the scats of fur seals (Arctocephalus spp.) on Macquarie Island were examined. Electron micrographs of 41 of the plastic particles showed that none could be identified as plastic pellet feedstock from their shapes. Commonly, such pellets are cylindrical and spherical. Instead, all the 164 plastic particles from the seal scats were angular particles of 7 colors (feedstock particles are normally opaque or white) and could be classified into 2 categories: i) fragmented along crystal lines and likely to be the result of UV breakdown; and ii) worn by abrasion (where striations were clearly visible) into irregular shapes with rounded corners. White, brown, green, yellow and blue were the most common colors. In composition, they came from 5 polymer groups; polyethylene 93%, polypropylene 4%, poly(1-Cl-1-butenylene) polychloroprene 2%, melamine-urea (phenol) (formaldehyde) resin 0.5%, and cellulose (rope fiber) 0.5%. The larger groups are buoyant with a specific gravity less than that of seawater. These small plastic particles are formed from the breakdown of larger particles (fragments). Their origin seems to be from the breakdown of user plastics washed ashore and ground down on cobbled beaches. Certainly most particles (70%) had attained their final form by active abrasion. It is hypothesized that the plastic particles were washed out to sea and then selected by size and consumed by individuals of a pelagic fish species, Electrona subaspera, who in turn were consumed by the fur seals. Thus, the particles were accumulated both by the fish and the seals in the usual process of their feeding. The download file contains a pdf of the paper listed in the reference section below, as well as 48 scanning electron micrograph images of plastics recovered from fur seal scats.