Where's all the Plastic?

Some might think that the fact that the amount of plastic trash in the Atlantic Ocean hasn't increased over the past twenty years is good news. Well too bad to disappoint but it is very bad news. Humans use of plastic has increased as well over the past two decades keeping in account the increased recycling rates. The question though is, where has all the plastic gone? Researchers have found that sea creatures have been consuming these small pieces of plastic when mistaken them for plankton, tiny, free floating marine plants and animals. For example, a dead triggerfish was found in the Atlantic Ocean which had forty-seven pieces of plastic in its stomach. This is terrible news even though humans might not care.

This article relates to biology because it is explaining how humans once again are destroying the environment of animals, most importantly those that live in the ocean. Sometimes we forget that there is life in the ocean and that those ecosystems are part of biology, or life. These sea creatures are being affected because of humans disrespect to other living things. Biology is all about living things and their environments.

This article is significant because it is important for people to know that although recycling rates have increased nothing is changing. Everything that humans are doing is not enough because the animals in the ocean are showing otherwise. Apparently we, humans, have damaged the Earth so much that all the things that we are doing now are not enough. There is a long way to go before we make our Earth save again.




http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/08/100820-science-environment-garbage-patch-missing-plastic-atlantic-ocean/