Unexpectedly: the plastic biological ecosystem was discovered in the deep sea!
Carrying out marine science practice for undergraduate students in the East China Sea. When sailing through Luzon Island, Asia and Europe, more than a dozen students collected the first plastic sample in this scientific research based on bottom trawl. They were surprised to find that the oocysts of dozens of deep-sea shellfish were attached to these plastics.
In the next three voyages, that kind of "adventure" still happened again.
"Some animals are easily identified by trawling, such as the big conch. The vast majority of organisms attached to plastics are not large and need to be observed and identified with a stereo microscope. " Gu Yifan, a graduate of Xiamen University's Malaysian teaching area who participated in the sampling of this voyage, said, "I was deeply impressed by the discovery of a plastic bottle with a small dark brown' trumpet' on it, which can easily be overlooked if you don't look carefully-it's a squid."
At first, large and medium-sized deep-sea plastic piles were found at the bottom of Xisha trough in the East China Sea, and various samples were collected. According to the sample resources, researchers from Xiamen University and the Institute of Deep Sea of Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted a multi-faceted and systematic scientific research on the samples collected by Jia Geng and the deep-sea nba warriors. Researchers are also suitable for the scientific research ship "Beidou Positioning System System Software" to collect in Xinhai Seafood Research Office of Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, and to collect similar shellfish oocysts on the voyage of Bohai Resources enjoyed by the National Fund Committee. This discovery plays a leading role in the scientific research of plastic samples in the East China Sea.
"When we first saw the shellfish oocysts produced on the plastic surface, we were very excited. I didn't expect deep-sea plastic garbage to become a breeding ground for some deep-sea animals, and then I came across more and more samples. The biodiversity of this plastic is beyond everyone's imagination. There are 49 types of 1 1, which amazes me! " Lu Mingxin, a graduate student of Xiamen University who participated in this research, said.
Like megaphones, they are hydra of cuttlefish, and about one third of them have the professional ability to release cuttlefish plates, so large and medium-sized plastic piles are likely to be the root cause of the release of pregnant mothers in some deep-sea areas; This kind of "dish" with long thorns and out of the mold is the North Atlantic disk shell-they are a brachiopod and the dominant species here. In addition, there are cold-water corals, polychaetes and evolved parasitic oblate animals.
"This is the first time that everyone has observed animals living on plastic at close range, and their diversity has surprised everyone." Dr. BernhardRuthensteiner, a natural history museum at the Bavarian National University in the Netherlands, who participated in scientific research, said.
There is a paradise in the deep sea.
"From the seaside to the deep sea, with the improvement of the water level line, the number and diversity of deep-sea creatures have dropped sharply. There is no sunshine, lack of O2, great pressure, and very unfriendly to creatures. " Han Jian, one of the sponsors of the paper and a researcher at Northwest University, said, "In addition, many benthic arthropods must camp on hard walls or materials to suppress their daily life, but most of the sea areas only have soft sand or sandy walls or materials, which also makes them unable to survive in the deep sea."
However, some larvae of deep-sea arthropods are "lucky". They meet deep-sea plastics, stick themselves to the plastic surface according to the metabolic mucus, and then enter the next life stage and gradually develop.
The "green state" of plastics discovered by exploration is easily reminiscent of other long-known deep-sea green ecological management systems: deep-sea hydrothermal solution, cold spring and whale landing. Among these environmental factors, the benthic ecosystem mainly relies on chemically self-propagating pathogenic bacteria and decomposed whale carcasses to provide energy.
"On the contrary, the deep-sea plastic biological ecosystem seems to be lacking and sensitive. They rely on the biological bodies of ephemera and analytical chemical fine particles that have settled from the subgrade foundation at sea level to promote their operation. Compared with hydrothermal vents, cold springs and whales landing, there are many nutrients. " Because of this, most of the parasites on the plastic surface are mm-level, which is easy to be ignored by researchers. "
Misfortunes are unpredictable: is it a fairyland or a trap?
From the most remote South and North Poles to the deep seabed of Mariana, plastics are everywhere. Large and medium-sized plastics in the development of marine resources are very dangerous to some endangered deep-sea creatures, such as cetaceans and sea turtles. In more serious cases, it will die unfortunately because of swallowing or being entangled in plastic.
"But the results of this scientific research have strongly damaged everyone's traditional thinking ability. It has always been thought that plastics are harmful to deep-sea creatures. But now it is found that at least for a few creatures, plastic gives him extra living space. " Han Jian said, "The relationship between plastics and biology and green ecology is likely to be more complicated than everyone predicted."
Some biologists also describe anxiety. Dr florian Bohr of Durham University, who was not involved in scientific research, said: "The harm of this change to the deep-sea green ecological management system is completely unknown. Areas that used to live naturally are likely to be destroyed by the arrival of plastic waste, and protozoa are likely to be replaced by plastic waste. Before plastic arrived here, everyone had not even had time to master the green ecological management system. "
"It is impossible to judge whether it is a good thing or a stupid thing." Zhang Xiaodi, a doctoral student at the Deep Sea Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who participated in this expedition, said, "On the one hand, it shows the strong self-regulation professional ability of the deep-sea green ecological management system, but on the other hand, many life activities are likely to accelerate the dissolution of plastic waste, which may lead to the transformation of microplastics into many fine particles into the biological chain and eventually into the human body."
For the little life who chooses to settle on plastic, there is a dilemma lurking in the seemingly vibrant situation. North Atlantic shellfish is the dominant species here, but researchers still haven't found themselves in estrus, which means they can't reproduce on plastic. Researchers can also change the reasons, which may be that the attachment time is not long enough, or the compressive strength of plastic can't support them to grow up again, or the plastic itself has unknown harm to such creatures.
Is the deep-sea plastic "oasis" a fairyland on earth or a trap? An accurate response has not yet been made. "I think that no matter what we find on plastics, everyone should call on people to minimize the use of disposable plastic products and start from themselves to maintain the development of marine resources.