According to a study, just a few pieces of plastic to kill a turtle

Hundreds of turtles die each year after swallowing pieces of plastic in the oceans and on the beaches. When turtles ingest plastic, they block their intestinal tract, leading to starvation and possibly death. The problem of plastic pollution is also worsening.

Recently, a team of researchers from CSIRO and USC analyzed the carcasses of nearly 1,000 beached turtles on beaches in Australia and quantified the risk posed by plastic turtle pollution. The researchers found that once a turtle has 14 pieces of plastic in the stomach, there is a 50% chance that she will die. Even swallowing a single piece of plastic increases the risk of death by 22%.

This is the first time that data on plastic pollution and turtle death have been studied together to understand how they affect their lives.

"What we found is that when the turtle eats the first piece of plastic, it has about 20% chance of dying because of that piece of plastic." Chris Wilcox, research scientist at Hobart's CSIRO, in Australia.

"We knew that turtles consumed a lot of plastic, but we did not know for sure if this plastic actually caused the death of turtles, or if the turtles simply had plastic at their death. In other words, we wanted to know how much plastic was too plastic for sea turtles. "

Every year, millions of tons of plastic pieces end up in the ocean and kill many species. These pieces include rubber bands, balloons, fishing nets and plastic packaging. Turtles are particularly vulnerable to the ingestion of plastics because they often swim near the surface of the ocean.

The data also suggests that the youngest turtles were the most affected by plastic pollution. They are more likely to die from plastic exposure than seniors. Researchers estimate that half of the young turtles would die if they swallowed 17 plastic items. In general, turtles can live for 80 years or more.

"The model we developed can be adapted to help us understand the impact of plastic ingestion not only on individuals, but on entire populations of other marine species at risk," said Dr. Wilcox. "The more we understand the problem, the better we are equipped to solve the problem and look for viable and scalable solutions."