essay on Effect of plastic Waste on Biodiversity
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The majority of consumer products used today is composed of some form of plastic. Worldwide, almost 280 million tons of plastic materials are produced annually, much of which end up in landfill or the oceans. Plastics are produced by the conversion of natural products or by synthesis from primary chemicals, generally from oil, natural gas or coal. In contemporary society, plastic has attained a pivotal status, with extensive commercial, industrial, medicinal and municipal applications. It affects at least 267 species worldwide, including 86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird species, and 43% of all marine mammal species. Marine animals are harmed mostly through ingestion, entanglement and subsequently strangulation. Ingested plastics debris has been found to reduce stomach capacity, hinder growth, cause internal injuries and create intestinal blockage. Plastics entanglement with nets or other materials can result in strangulation, reduction of feeding efficiency, and even drowning. Plastics pollution facilitates the transport of species to other regions, alien species hitchhike on floating debris and invade new ecosystem thereby causing a shift in species composition or even extinction of other species. Legislation, prohibiting the disposal of plastics in the sea, introducing of biodegradable plastics, recycling of plastics and public awareness campaigns to discourage littering are various ways in which this problem can be minimized. Other remedial measures include enforcing environmental laws, development of indigenous and homegrown knowledge for plastic waste management and development and implementation of quality standards for all plastic recycled products
Explanation:
Introduction
Marine and coastal environment acts as a highly productive zone that consist different kinds of subsystems, such as coral reefs and seagrasses. It is a complex environment with rich biodiversity ranging from various primitive (horseshoe crab) to the advanced organisms (dolphins). The marine environment is the vast body of water that covers 71 percent of the earth's coverage. However, the global ocean system divides into five major oceans and many seas based on historical, cultural, geographical, scientific characteristics, and size variations. Five ocean basins, i.e., Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and the Antarctic, are the most known marine systems invaded by humans. The Southern Pole (Antarctic) ocean basin was recognized as the fifth ocean basin by the International Hydrographic Organization. All ocean basins act as ecologically and economically important systems for the betterment of humans. Freshwater lotic systems connect with oceans and seas, creating unique, transitional ecosystems like lagoons and estuaries (Reddy et al., 2018). The continental shelf of the marine environment is the mixing place of seawater and freshwater; therefore, this area creates a unique coastal ecosystem.
Marine and coastal ecosystems provide different priceless services and values for human wellbeing and other kinds of vertebrate and invertebrate organisms. Provisioning (the domain of food, fiber, wood, water, pharmaceutical components, oil, mineral sources), regulating (carbon sequestration, maintain water quality, climate regulation), supporting (photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, nursery and breeding grounds, oxygen production), and cultural (spiritual and cultural importance, recreation and tourism) services gained from oceans and coastal ecosystems are ecologically and socio-economically imperative. Due to the massive contribution by services of the aforesaid ecosystems on the human wellbeing component, this paper will mainly focus on emerging anthropogenic threats on the marine environment as an initial step to concern conservation and sustainable management of the aquatic environment.
Aquatic ecosystems are inter-connected with the terrestrial environment; therefore, changes in one system have impacts on another. For decades, different factors, including anthropogenic activities, have stressed the coastal and marine ecosystems (Adams, 2005; Richmond, 2015). These stresses include pollution and the physical destruction of the environment. Debris or litter accumulation is one of the human-created severe threats on marine and coastal systems due to unsustainable development and construction activities. Compared with other categories of debris such as glass, cloth, paper, food waste, metal, rubber, medical/personal hygiene-related items, smoking/firework items, and wood (Nualphan, 2013; Rosevelt et al., 2013), plastic litter is persistent in the ocean basins due to unique characteristics of plastics (e.g., the potential of ready transportation by water current and wind due to long shelf-life). Plastic debris with counts of five trillion, weighing more than 260,000 tones, is floating over the world's ocean surface as a result of improper waste disposal (Eriksen et al., 2014). Currently, plastic pollution has become a serious concern over almost all parts of ocean basins irrespective of developed or underdeveloped regions in the world