3 ms·
that's entirely dependent on whether the bacteria can exist within the gut of the aforementioned marine life. If they're eating plastic, and ingest that bacter
by soperj 5y ago
that's entirely dependent on whether the bacteria can exist within the gut of the aforementioned marine life. If they're eating plastic, and ingest that bacteria, and it starts to act on all of the plastic that's been stuck in their system for years, that would improve the situation.
- mlyle 5y ago> If they're eating plastic, and ingest that bacteria, and it starts to act on all of the plastic that's been stuck in their system for years, that would improve the situation. That's a lot of ifs. Right now significant biodegradation of plastic by marine bacteria is still pretty unlikely. Further presuming that the bacteria capable of this will also evolve to exist within the gut of higher marine line is a bit of a leap: guts are a pretty harsh competitive environment and "random" bacteria you ingest don't go live there. And, it further presumes that all the accumulated plastic resides within the gut (it doesn't).
- soperj 5y ago>And, it further presumes that all the accumulated plastic resides within the gut (it doesn't) Where does it reside?
- mlyle 5y agoOnce the pieces get small, they tend to migrate and accumulate throughout an organism. e.g. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2020/august/micro-and-nanoplastics-detectable-in-human-tissues.html https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/20... No one really knows what the impact of this is. Maybe it's not too bad. Maybe it is.