Origins and Biological Accumulation of Small Plastic Particles in Fur Seals From Macquarie Island

From the abstract of the referenced paper:


One hundred and sixty four plastic particles (mean length 4.1 mm) recovered from the scats of fur seals (Arctocephalus spp.) on Macquarie Island were examined.


Electron micrographs of 41 of the plastic particles showed that none could be identified as plastic pellet feedstock from their shapes. Commonly, such pellets are cylindrical and spherical. Instead, all the 164 plastic particles from the seal scats were angular particles of 7 colors (feedstock particles are normally opaque or white) and could be classified into 2 categories: i) fragmented along crystal lines and likely to be the result of UV breakdown; and ii) worn by abrasion (where striations were clearly visible) into irregular shapes with rounded corners. White, brown, green, yellow and blue were the most common colors. In composition, they came from 5 polymer groups; polyethylene 93%, polypropylene 4%, poly(1-Cl-1-butenylene) polychloroprene 2%, melamine-urea (phenol) (formaldehyde) resin 0.5%, and cellulose (rope fiber) 0.5%. The larger groups are buoyant with a specific gravity less than that of seawater. These small plastic particles are formed from the breakdown of larger particles (fragments). Their origin seems to be from the breakdown of user plastics washed ashore and ground down on cobbled beaches.


Certainly most particles (70%) had attained their final form by active abrasion. It is hypothesized that the plastic particles were washed out to sea and then selected by size and consumed by individuals of a pelagic fish species, Electrona subaspera, who in turn were consumed by the fur seals. Thus, the particles were accumulated both by the fish and the seals in the usual process of their feeding.


The download file contains a pdf of the paper listed in the reference section below, as well as 48 scanning electron micrograph images of plastics recovered from fur seal scats.

Simple

Identification info

Alternate title
Origins and Biological Accumulation of Small Plastic Particles in Fur Seals From Macquarie Island
Date (Publication)
2004-03-30
Edition
1
Citation identifier
Dataset DOI

Title
Information and documentation - Digital object identifier system
Date (Publication)
2012-04-23
Citation identifier
ISO 26324:2012

Citation identifier
doi:10.26179/5c9c01897ed60

Originator

Burton, H. and Eriksson, C.

Publisher

Australian Antarctic Data Centre

Principal investigator

BURTON, HARRY
Australian Antarctic Division
203 Channel Highway
Kingston
Tasmania
7050
Australia

Principal investigator

ERIKSSON, CECILIA
1 Mary Street,
Hobart
Tasmania
7000
Australia

Collaborator

BURTON, HARRY
Australian Antarctic Division
203 Channel Highway
Kingston
Tasmania
7050
Australia

Collaborator

ERIKSSON, CECILIA
1 Mary Street,
Hobart
Tasmania
7000
Australia
Name
CAASM Metadata
Website
https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/plastics_fur_seals

Status
Completed

Custodian

AU/AADC > Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia - AADC, DATA OFFICER (DATA CENTER CONTACT)
Australian Antarctic Division
203 Channel Highway
Kingston
Tasmania
7050
Australia
Topic category
  • Biota
  • Environment
  • Oceans

Extent

N
S
E
W


Extent

Description
Temporal Coverage

Temporal extent

TimePeriod
1990-10-01 1991-03-31

Extent

Description
Temporal Coverage

Temporal extent

TimePeriod
1996-10-01 1997-03-31
Title
Origins and Biological Accumulation of Small Plastic Particles in Fur Seals From Macquarie Island
Date (Publication)
2003
Citation identifier
32

Author

Eriksson, C. and Burton, H.
Name
Ambio
Issue identification
6
Page
380-384
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS > ISLANDS
  • EARTH SCIENCE > HUMAN DIMENSIONS > ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS > CONTAMINANT LEVELS/SPILLS
  • EARTH SCIENCE > HUMAN DIMENSIONS > ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE/MANAGEMENT > WATER MANAGEMENT
  • EARTH SCIENCE > HUMAN DIMENSIONS > ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
  • EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES
  • EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > FISH
  • EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MAMMALS
  • EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOSYSTEMS > MARINE ECOSYSTEMS > PELAGIC
  • EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS > USE/FEEDING HABITATS
Keywords
  • FEEDING
  • FEEDSTOCK
  • FISH
  • FUR SEALS
  • MACQUARIE ISLAND
  • PLASTIC
  • SCANNING ELECTRON MICROGRAPH
  • POLYMER
  • SCAT
  • SEM
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • VISUAL OBSERVATIONS
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • FIELD SURVEYS
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • CEOS
  • AMD/AU
  • AMD
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN
  • OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN > MACQUARIE ISLAND
  • GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR

Resource constraints

Use limitation
This metadata record is publicly available.

Resource constraints

Access constraints
licence
Other constraints
The dataset can be downloaded from the provided URL.

Resource constraints

File type
Portable Network Graphic
Linkage
Creative Commons by Attribution logo

Title
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Website
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Legal code for Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 International license

Use constraints
licence
Other constraints
This data set conforms to the CCBY Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=plastics_fur_seals when using these data.
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor

Distributor

AU/AADC > Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia - AADC, DATA OFFICER (DATA CENTER CONTACT)
Australian Antarctic Division
203 Channel Highway
Kingston
Tasmania
7050
Australia

Distributor

Fees
free
Planned available datetime
2004-03-30T00:00:00
Units of distribution
MB
Transfer size
22
Distribution format
  • images, PDF

OnLine resource
GET DATA

Download point for the data

OnLine resource
VIEW RELATED INFORMATION

Citation reference for this metadata record and dataset

Resource lineage

Statement
The dates given in temporal coverage are appoximate only. The years are correct.
Hierarchy level
Dataset
Maintenance and update frequency
As needed
Maintenance note
2019-03-27 - record updated by Dave Connell - basic updates.

Metadata

Metadata identifier
string/plastics_fur_seals

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Author

CONNELL, DAVE J.
Australian Antarctic Division
203 Channel Highway
Kingston
Tasmania
7050
Australia

Sponsor

Australian Antarctic Division

Owner

AADC

Type of resource

Resource scope
Dataset

Alternative metadata reference

Title
gov.nasa.gsfc.gcmd
Citation identifier
6d1dcec2-335f-4cfd-9707-b0fbe1eaf997

Alternative metadata reference

Title
gov.nasa.gsfc.gcmd
Date (Last Revision)
2019-03-27T12:44:28

Identifier

Description
metadata.extraction_date

Alternative metadata reference

Title
gov.nasa.gsfc.gcmd
Citation identifier
8.6

Metadata linkage
http://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/plastics_fur_seals

Point of truth for the metadata record

Date info (Creation)
2004-03-30T00:00:00
Date info (Last Update)
2019-03-27

Metadata standard

Title
ISO 19115-3
Edition
2014
Other citation details
Version 1
Title
DIF to ISO 19115-1 Profile
 
 

Overviews

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords


Provided by

Share on social sites

Access to the record in catalogue

Associated resources

Not available