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| Microbial Communities Found On Ocean Debris |
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
The Secret Life of Ocean Microbes
We all know that microbes play a huge role in the ocean. We also know that the ocean is teeming with trash, which collects in places in the ocean where currents can trap the debris, such as the great Pacific garbage patch, which is about the size of Texas. Little was known about how sea debris affected the entire ocean ecosystem or how microbial communities, dubbed "plastisphere", are impacting the ocean ecosystem. Last year, scientists discovered that about 1,000 microbes thrived on the plastic debris that drifts in the oceans. A lot of the bacteria belong to the genus Vibrio (the same genus as the cholera bacteria), which is known to cause diseases in humans and animals. Other microbes of the plastisphere seemed to hasten the breakdown of the plastic. What's clearly interesting, however, is that these microbes look markedly different from ordinary marine microbes. Scientists have found evidence that these microbes can form colonies on plastic in just a few minutes. In addition, some types of harmful bacteria tend to prefer living on plastic more than others do. Unlocking the mysterious world of these microbes could help scientists understand the role of plastic in the ocean as a whole. Tracy Mincer, an associate scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass., says that "one of the benefits of understanding the plastisphere right now and how it interacts with biota in general, is that we are better able to inform materials scientists on how to make better materials and, if they do get out to the sea, have the lowest impact possible." This could possible mean that plastic, glass, and paper may become obsolete and that new materials might be created from the findings of these microbes. These new materials will break down easier and have the lowest impact on marine life and on the ocean ecosystem. Nothing in this article is unclear, the author does a fine job explaining how trash in the ocean affects its ecosystem and how communities of microbes have been found in the debris.
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That's crazy, trash in the ocean the size of Texas! I'm curious what impact this has an marine wildlife. Are any animals living off of this? Is it helping a species to live off this bacteria? I wonder what will happen if this land of plastic and trash hit a continent? This topic is also really sad because it shows how harmful humans can be to the environment. Like you said Kashif hopefully by understanding the microbes living on this plastic, something can be done to eliminate all this trash. Perhaps industries can begin turning to biodegradable material.
ReplyDeleteThis article is really cool! I actually did my blog on the same thing this week. I thought this was a really interesting concept because its a fairly new discovery. Hopefully this will lead to new findings and discoveries of the ocean! Humans know so little about the ocean because its immense size so hopefully this leads to something!
ReplyDeleteWow, it is hard to think that there is garbage in the ocean the size of Texas! It leaves you to think how many disease-causing bacteria is lurking in all that garbage. I'm sure a lot of questions are being asked as to why bacteria prefer the living environment on plastic as opposed to other garbage in the ocean and I feel a lot of discoveries can come from it. I do wonder how the bacteria affect the living environment for other species. Do they cause a lot of deaths among fish? What are the rates of infection among animals and humans? Aside from the disease causing bacteria living on plastic, I find it interesting that there are other microbes that breakdown the plastic. I also agree that the study on these microbes will lead to great discoveries on better materials to use.
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