Scholarly Article 1

          By: Skyler Cecil

In this article, “Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is Rapidly Accumulating Plastic”, a group of scientists shares the data collected and the conclusions they made from that data. In the study, they separated and counted different ocean plastics found in the GPGP. Between July and September 2015, they collected surface debris samples from in and around the GPGP. 652 nets filled with trash were carried by 18 aircrafts to be tested and measured. From these samples brought in, biomass and buoyant debris was separated and put into groups. Buoyant debris was put into groups of plastic, glass, paraffin, tar, rubber, wood, pumice, seed, or unknown. 46% of the debris found was made up of fishing nets. The results suggest that ocean plastic pollution is increasing at an alarming rate. 

Reference:

Lebreton, L., et al. “Evidence That the Great Pacific Garbage Patch Is Rapidly Accumulating Plastic.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 22 Mar. 2018, www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-22939-w.

Scholarly Article 2 

      By: Annie Elliott

The scholarly article I decided to analyze is from an academic journal. It is titled "Occurrence and Ingestion of Microplastics by Zooplankton in Kenya's Marine Environment: First Documented Evidence." This article focuses on a study compiled where they looked at how much plastic zooplankton near Kenya's water ingested. The article begins by explaining to the readers about how plastic in the ocean has been increasing over time. The plastic in the ocean breaks down over time, which creates very small pieces of plastic, called microplastics. The article also talks about how zooplankton ingesting the debris can affect species that are higher up on the food chain. This means human health, since we eat the fish that eat the zooplankton. In the study, zooplankton was collected and analyzed. The authors concluded that there were a lot of microplastics present in the Indian Ocean and were ingested by zooplankton. This then shows that the chemicals from the plastics enter the food web. I thought this article was very interesting because it related so much to our project. We were talking about how one of the dangers of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was animals ingesting it. This journal just confirmed what our project is saying. The results show that the authors are urging for a solution to this problem. 

Reference 

Kosore, C., Ojwang, L., Maghanga, J., Kamau, J., Kimeli, A., Omukoto, J., Ngisiag, e, N., Mwaluma, J., Ong, ada, H., Magori, C., & Ndirui, E. (2018). Occurrence and ingestion of microplastics by zooplankton in Kenya’s marine environment: first documented evidence. African Journal of Marine Science, 40(3), 225–234. https://doi-org.ezproxy.uky.edu/10.2989/1814232X.2018.1492969

Scholarly Article 3

By: Kate Guillaume

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not the only place being infiltrated by trash and debris; the East China Sea is also being hurt by this. Human activities and population growth in the Yangtze River have caused the ECS to become filthy. This is talked about extensively in the article I chose, which is called “Ocean Pollution from Land-Based Sources: East China Sea, China” by Li Daoji and Dag Daler. The level of pollution in the ECS has gotten so bad that the health of marine life is being threatened. The main problems that are causing health issues are nitrogen, phosphate, oil, hydrocarbons, organics matters, and heavy metals. Most of these pollutants flood into the ECS from the Yangtze River’s river basin. The biggest challenge the ECS is facing is to restore natural balance and reverse the damage that has been done.

Reference:

Daoji, Li, and Dag Daler. “Ocean Pollution from Land-Based Sources: East China Sea, China.” JSTOR, vol. 33, Feb. 2004.