Seagrass 'Neptune balls’ sieve millions of plastic particles from water, study finds
Underwater seagrass in coastal areas appear to trap plastic pollution in natural bundles of fibre known as “Neptune balls”, researchers have found. With no help from humans, the swaying plants – anchored to shallow seabeds – may collect nearly 900m plastic items in the Mediterranean alone every year, a study reported in the journal Scientific Reports said. “We show that plastic debris in the seafloor can be trapped in seagrass remains, eventually leaving the marine environment through beaching,” lead author Anna Sanchez-Vidal, a marine biologist at the University of Barcelona, told AFP.
This clean-up “represents a continuous purge of plastic debris out of the sea,” she added. The study adds to the long list of services that seagrass provides – for ocean ecosystems, and the humans who live near the water’s edge. They play a vital role in improving water quality, absorb CO2 and exude oxygen, and are a natural nursery and refuge for hundreds of species of fish. They are also the foundation of coastal food webs…
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