Gooseneck barnacles (Lepas spp.) ingest microplastic debris in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
MetadataShow full item record
KeywordNorth Pacific Subtropical Gyre; Marine debris; Plastic pollution; Lepas pacifica; Lepas anatifera; Gooseneck barnacles; Ingestion; Microplastic
Substantial quantities of small plastic particles, termed “microplastic,” have been found in many areas of the world ocean, and have accumulated in particularly high densities on the surface of the subtropical gyres. While plastic debris has been documented on the surface of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) since the early 1970s, the ecological implications remain poorly understood. Organisms associated with floating objects, termed the “rafting assemblage,” are an important component of the NPSG ecosystem. These objects are often dominated by abundant and fast-growing gooseneck barnacles (Lepas spp.), which predate on plankton and larval fishes at the sea surface. To assess the potential effects of microplastic on the rafting community, we examined the gastrointestinal tracts of 385 barnacles collected from the NPSG for evidence of plastic ingestion. We found that 33.5% of the barnacles had plastic particles present in their gastrointestinal tract, ranging from one plastic particle to a maximum of 30 particles. Particle ingestion was positively correlated to capitulum length, and no blockage of the stomach or intestines was observed. The majority of ingested plastic was polyethylene, with polypropylene and polystyrene also present. Our results suggest that barnacle ingestion of microplastic is relatively common, with unknown trophic impacts on the rafting community and the NPSG ecosystem.
© The Author(s), 2013. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PeerJ 1 (2013): e184, doi:10.7717/peerj.184.
The following license files are associated with this item:
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
Numerical investigations of seasonal and interannual variability of North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water and its implications for Pacific climate variability Davis, Xujing Jia; Rothstein, Lewis M.; Dewar, William K.; Menemenlis, Dimitris (American Meteorological Society, 2011-06-01)North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water (NPSTMW) is an essential feature of the North Pacific subtropical gyre imparting significant influence on regional SST evolution on seasonal and longer time scales and, as such, is an ...
Diaz, Julia M.; Björkman, Karin M.; Haley, Sheean T.; Ingall, Ellery; Karl, David M.; Longo, Amelia; Dyhrman, Sonya T. (John Wiley & Sons, 2015-10-27)Polyphosphate (polyP) was examined within the upper water column (≤ 150 m) of Station ALOHA (22° 45′N, 158° 00′W) during two cruises conducted in May–June 2013 and September 2013. Phosphorus molar ratios of particulate ...
Data from: Sommer SA, Van Woudenberg L, Lenz PH, Cepeda G, Goetze E (in review) Vertical gradients in species richness and community composition across the twilight zone in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre Goetze, Erica (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: firstname.lastname@example.org, 2017-06-12)This dataset consists of metabarcoding data for the zooplankton community in the epipelagic, mesopelagic and upper bathypelagic zones (0-1500m) of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. The goal of this study was to assess ...