The World Economic Forum says that by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Plastics are everywhere, and a new study found that certain things added to plastic can affect the ‘love life’ of small shrimp-like crustaceans, which can even lead to their extinction.
These small creatures are found on the shores of European seas and make up a substantial amount of the diet of fish and birds.
"If they are compromised it will have an effect on the whole food chain," said ecotoxicologist Alex Ford from the University of Portsmouth in the UK.
Scientists in Portsmouth did experiments on a tiny crustacean called Echinogammarus marinus. They exposed it to just four out of thousands of chemicals found in plastic.
"We chose these four additives because the suspected danger they pose to human health is well documented," explains Green-Ojo.
"Two of the chemicals we investigated (DBP and DEHP) are regulated and not allowed to be used in products in Europe. The other two chemicals have no current restrictions on them and are found in many household products. We wanted to test the effects these chemicals had on aquatic mating behavior," he added.
Even though there are rules about these chemicals, three of them are still commonly found in England's water.
All four chemicals they tested could make these creatures have trouble mating because it changed their behaviour. Two of the chemicals even caused a drop in the number of sperm.
When these creatures tried to mate in the lab, they did it less often when exposed to these chemicals. This study adds to other research showing that being around plastic for a long time might be bad for animals, even if we don't know all the effects yet.
"Although the animals we tested were exposed to much higher concentrations than you would normally find in the environment, the results indicate these chemicals can affect sperm count," explains Ford.
"It is conceivable that if we did the experiment on shrimps that had been exposed for a longer period or during critical stages in their life history, it would affect their sperm levels and quality."
