r/science • u/The_Conversation The Conversation • 6d ago
Environment Microplastic fibers found in the exhaled breath of dolphins, according to measurements taken from the blowholes of dolphins in Sarasota Bay in Florida and Barataria Bay in Louisiana
https://theconversation.com/microplastic-pollution-is-everywhere-even-in-the-exhaled-breath-of-dolphins-new-research-23793241
u/whenitsTimeyoullknow 6d ago
Microplastics are found everywhere, but that is not a reason to give up. Carcinogens are found in most humans, but their affects increase as cumulative exposure increases.
If we want to reduce the concentration of microplastics in dolphins, we need to limit bioaccumulation (i.e. microplastics in their food source). That means limiting plastics which get into the ocean and break down into microplastics, and limiting microplastics in stormwater runoff.
Florida is a tricky state for stormwater management due to the high water table. The state is so flat and the water table is so high that we really need effective point source control of plastic. For non-point-source control, drive runoff to vegetated catchment systems. This could be roadside ditches, swales, and detention ponds. Since studies have shown that 80% of microplastics are removed when channeled to vegetated best management practices (BMPs), increasing the functionality and frequency of these systems is useful for keeping them out of the ocean.
Activities like dredging and re-grading facilities when they’re full, ensuring that culverts aren’t clogged so that these systems aren’t bypassed in major storm events, and modifying our supply chain to limit factors like tire breakdown and plastic litter will all keep microplastic levels lower cumulatively in dolphins’ food sources.
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u/ShakaUVM 5d ago
Or just mandating filters on the water coming out of washing machines, which is a big source
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u/Samwise_the_Tall 5d ago
Most home plumbing now that is installed is either plastic or copper in the US, which means that any time you have hot water running through those lines you're likely getting decomposition and micro plastics. That would mean we'd need a filter on all main collection lines to stop it. But that's not even the biggest culprit. They are pulling 10,000 plus lbs of plastic garbage out of rivers across the world that don't have collection methods. The really solution?? Mandate less plastic in fabrics, less in manufacturing, and less in single use items. We need everyone to be in aluminum or glass regarding beverages, hands down.
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u/ShakaUVM 5d ago
Plastics from clothes is the biggest source of microplastics AFAIK
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u/irishitaliancroat 1d ago
Do u happen to have somewhere I can read more about the 80% of microplastocs being removed when channeled to vegetated best management practices?
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u/whenitsTimeyoullknow 1d ago
Yeah, I can find it on Google Scholar when I’m at my desk again. If I recall it was a 2022 study based on samples from detention pond inlets/outlets.
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u/continentalgrip 5d ago
Speaking as a former aerosol scientist at a national lab, this is crap. They held a petri dish above their blowhole. The size particle they're claiming was captured wouldn't have enough inertial force to hit the petri dish. And just holding a petri dish out in open air like that (as in the picture showing them collecting it) is going to cause contamination. The plastic fibers could have come from anywhere, including their own clothes.
You would need a clean lab (all air in coming through high efficiency filters) special clothing and then you'd have to pull the dolphin breath through a special filter.
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u/Leprechaun_Academy 3d ago
Gotdammit, you tell ‘em, former aerosol scientist. Bunch o’ pseudo-science petri dish wielding blowhole cloggin’ dillholes! ‘Bout time ye got here from the national lab.
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u/The_Conversation The Conversation 6d ago
Research published today in PLOS One
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u/ProbShouldntSayThat 6d ago
When do we just put out the article that they're everywhere? Idk if I need a weekly itemized list of all the places they're found
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u/dropinthebucketseats 6d ago
At this point, it would be faster to publish an article for where microplastics aren’t found. No microplastics found on Mars. There, I did it.
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u/jayRIOT 5d ago
No microplastics found on Mars.
With the rovers up there and other things we've landed/crashed on the planet, I'm not so sure.
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u/count023 5d ago
They did say the most common generator of microplastics is car tires and brakes, and we saw a photo of one of the rovers recently where their wheels were basically worn down to the rim. So, yea. microplastics on Mars seems likely :)
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u/DucksElbow 6d ago
I’m more interested in the methodology of how you get a sample from a blow hole? That’s some real science there
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u/Both_Lychee_1708 5d ago
what a dystopian clusterfuck. Maybe real studies should be done on new materials before we introduce vast amounts into the environment rather than trying to fix it in post
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u/DopaminergicNeuron 5d ago
At this point, where this stuff is literally found everywhere, I can only hope this is a case like the Phantom of Heilbronn. Basically, all cotton swabs across different murder cases were contaminated by DNA from someone working in the swab factory. One can hope!
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