A wild dolphin undergoing a health assessment
Todd Speakman/National Marine Mammal Foundation, MMPA/ESA permit no. 18786-03 and 24359 CC-BY 4.0
Dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico are breathing microplasticswhich can cause lung problems.
Researchers at the College of Charleston in South Carolina conducted routine catch-and-release health assessments on five bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops cut) in Sarasota Bay, Florida, and six in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, in May and June 2023.
As part of the tests, they held a petri dish over the animals’ holes, looking for any small pieces of plastic in their breath.
To ensure that these dishes were not simply picking up microplastics floating in the air, the researchers held a second petri dish away from the wells to collect control samples.
All the dolphins were found to be inhaling microplastics. A total of 54 such pieces were collected, each smaller than 500 microns.
This shows that the dolphins are breathing in microplastics, says the team member Miranda Platypus. “These particles are everywhere, regardless of urbanization and human development.”
Dzioba hoped that similar results would occur in other parts of the world. “Microplastics are very small and very light, which makes them easy to transport,” he says. “Some researchers have shown that microplastics can travel thousands of kilometers through the air.”
The team did not investigate whether these particles harmed the dolphins, but previous research suggests that they might.
“What we know from human studies is that inhaling microplastics can lead to lung inflammation and other respiratory problems,” says Dziobak. “Since we observed particles in dolphins’ breath similar to those reported in humans, dolphins may also be at risk of lung problems.”
Nina Wootton At the University of Adelaide in Australia, he says he would like to know how these microplastics can affect dolphins. “Many studies indicate that although health impacts are known to occur, microplastics must contaminate animals at relatively high concentrations,” he says.
“Unfortunately, finding microplastics in marine species is now a rule, and most of the specimens that are studied usually have them. Dolphins are often an indicator of the health of marine ecosystems, so this finding supports the fact that microplastics are truly ubiquitous.
Topics:
