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Pinpointing plastic’s path to the deep sea

Until now, little has been known about how microplastics move in the ocean. A new
paper by our colleagues at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI),
just published in the journal Science Advances, shows that filter-feeding animals
called giant larvaceans collect and consume microplastic particles in the deep sea.

Larvaceans are transparent tunicates that live in the open sea and capture food in
sticky mucus filters. Plastic particles accumulate in the cast-off mucus feeding filters
and are passed into the animals’ fecal pellets, which sink rapidly through the water,
potentially carrying microplastics to the deep seafloor.

The new findings contribute to an

emerging picture about the ubiquitous
nature of ocean plastic pollution. Over
the last decade, scientists have
discovered tiny pieces of plastic in all
parts of the ocean—including deep-sea
Researchers at MBARI documented that tadpole-like giant
mud. One recent study documented
larvaceans consume microplastic beaads. Photo courtesy
MBARI. microplastic fibers in deep-sea
sediments at levels four times greater
than an earlier study had found in surface waters. Plastic has also been discovered
in the tissues of animals at the base of the ocean food web. Another just-published
study found that fish confuse plastic particles with real food items because it smells
just like organic matter in the ocean.

Despite their name, giant larvaceans are less than 10 millimeters (4 inches) long,
and look somewhat like transparent tadpoles. Their mucus filters—called “houses”
because the larvaceans live inside them—can be more than 1 meter (3 feet) across.
These filters trap tiny particles of drifting debris, which the larvacean eats. When a
larvacean’s house becomes clogged with debris, the animal abandons the structure
and it sinks toward the seafloor.

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In early 2016, MBARI Principal Engineer Kakani Katija was planning an experiment
using the DeepPIV system to figure out how quickly giant larvaceans could filter
seawater, and what size particles they could capture in their filters. Other
researchers have tried to answer these questions in the laboratory by placing tiny
plastic beads into tanks with smaller larvaceans. Because giant larvacean houses
are too big to study in the lab, Kakani decided to perform similar experiments in the
open ocean, using MBARI’s remotely
operated vehicles (ROVs).

When she discussed this experiment

with Postdoctoral Fellow Anela Choy—
who studies the movement of plastic
through the ocean—they realized that in-
situ feeding experiments using plastic
beads could also shine light on the fate
of microplastics in the deep sea.
Principal Engineer Kakani Katija studies giant larvaceans
Field experiment with plastic debris during field expeditions in Monterey Bay. Photo courtesy
MBARI.
In June 2016, the researchers outfitted
MBARI’s ROV Doc Ricketts with a
container of seawater and tiny color-coded plastic spheres, from one-hundredth of
a millimeter to two-thirds of a millimeter in diameter. After sending the ROV down
into Monterey Canyon, the team released small quantities of microplastic beads
near giant larvaceans, then pulled the ROV back to watch what happened.

For at least 11 of the 25 larvaceans they

observed, the beads were trapped by
the larvacean’s fine-textured inner
feeding filter. In six of these cases, the
researchers observed a larvacean
ingesting the plastic beads, which were
visible inside its transparent body.
As part of the experiment, Kakani Katija and Anela Choy
seeded larvaceans with microplastic beads of various sizes.
Photo courtesy MBARI. Next, they used the ROV to capture the
six larvaceans with plastic beadsMENU
in their
guts and brought them to a shipboard lab on the research vessel Western Flyer.
They kept the animals in the lab for 12 hours. In that time, all of the plastic beads
had passed through the larvaceans’ guts and ended up in their fecal pellets.

The researchers were surprised to discover that the larvaceans had collected and
consumed not just the smaller microplastics, but particles of all sizes.
Rapid transport into the depths

The research team then measured how quickly fecal pellets of giant larvaceans sink
through the water column. The fecal pellets were estimated to sink at about 300
meters per day. Combined with previous studies showing that discarded larvacean
houses can sink as rapidly as 800 meters a day, their results suggest that larvacean
houses and fecal pellets can quickly transport microplastics from near-surface
waters to the deep seafloor.

Laboratory studies have shown that

Remotely operated vehicles collected larvaceans and their
other common filter-feeding ocean mucus feeding filters to measure the microplastics they had
animals, such as salps, can also ingest consumed. Photo courtesy MBARI

microplastics. Kakani and Anela, the

lead authors of this study, and their co-authors are now conducting ROV
experiments to find out if these animals behave similarly to larvaceans in their
natural environments. Anela and MBARI Senior Scientist Bruce Robison are keenly
interested in how microplastics might be transferred from one animal to another
through deep-sea food webs.

In earlier experiments, Kakani had

The experiment used a range of microplastic beads, from one-
hundredth of a millimeter in size, to two-thirds of a millimeter.
shown that giant larvaceans can filter
Photo courtesy MBARI. seawater faster than any other drifting
open-ocean animal. This finding, along
with this new research, suggests that larvaceans have the potential to be important,
unintentional consumers of microplastics in the ocean. Because many deep-sea
animals eat larvaceans, their fecal pellets and cast-off mucus houses could
introduce microplastics to midwater food webs.

Microplastics that reach the deep seafloor don’t just disappear. Many are likely to
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be ingested by benthic animals, which rely on cast-off larvacean houses as an
important source of food.

Unsolved mysteries of microplastics

Kakani is quick to point out that her study is just a first step. Many basic questions
about microplastics in the ocean remain unanswered.
“There’s a lot of work being done studying plastic in the guts of seabirds and fish,”
she said, “but no one has really looked at plastics in deeper water. We’re currently
working on experiments to study the concentrations of microplastics at different
depths in the ocean, using water samples and maybe even cast-off larvacean
houses.”

The MBARI team is collaborating with

This giant larvacean consumed microplastic beads. Photo
the Monterey Bay Aquarium to courtesy MBARI.
communicate the impacts of large-scale
plastic pollution in the ocean. As Anela
put it, “The Aquarium is deeply committed to the conservation of ocean
ecosystems, and has vast experience working to influence policy with science. By
combining this expertise with MBARI’s knowledge and experience with deep
pelagic ecosystems, we’re working to understand the transport and cycling of
plastics through ocean food webs, and what this might mean for humans.”

This summer, the Aquarium, along with 18 other top public aquariums in the United
States, launched the #InOurHands campaign to encourage individuals to cut back
on single-use plastics. The aquariums also committed to change their own business
practices by eliminating plastic straws and shopping bags, and moving to reduce or
eliminate single-use plastic beverage bottles by 2020. All of this is designed to
accelerate the design of innovative new products and materials to replace plastics
in the supply chain.

“We’re just beginning to understand the full impacts of ocean plastic pollution on
ecosystems, marine life and human health,” says Aquarium Executive Director Julie
Packard. “But we already know enough to say that now is the time to act. By using
our voice with visitors and in our communities, our collective buying power and our
relationships with our vendors, we can make a big difference on a pressing MENU
issue
that threatens ocean wildlife, and in turn, human well-being.”

From the surface to the seafloor: How giant larvaceans transport microplastics into
the deep sea. Kakani Katija, Anela Choy, Rob E. Sherlock, Alana D. Sherman and
Bruce H. Robison. Science Advances 16 Aug 2017: Vol. 3, No. 8.

Learn more about our work to reduce ocean plastic pollution.

CATEGORIES MBARI, Plastic Pollution

TAGS Anela Choy, Bruce Robison, InOurHands, Kakani Katija, larvaceans, MBARI, microplastics, Monterey Bay
Aquarium, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, ocean plastic, ocean plastic pollution, Science Advances

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2 thoughts on “Pinpointing plastic’s path to the deep sea”

Eden Charles says:

August 18, 2017 at 7:31 am

Thanks for sharing this vital bit of information that is essential in our
understanding of the deleterious effects of microplastics on marine
life and the incremental effects on human life.

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Alfreda Simpson says:

August 19, 2017 at 3:08 pm
 Find the ocean an amazing space. So much we don’t know about
what is there. Glad your scientist are doing what they can to protect
it from human contamination. Loved trips to the aquarium.

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