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Until recently, it was unclear whether ocular plastics directly contributed to the early death of turtles.
According to a study by researchers at CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, it has been confirmed that a sea turtle that has ingested a single piece of plastic has more than one chance of dying out of five.
The analysis of nearly 1,000 turtles found dead and stranded on the beaches of Australia shows that the more a turtle consumes plastic, the more likely it will die because of it.
"We knew that turtles were consuming a lot of plastic, but we did not know for sure whether this plastic actually caused turtle deaths or if turtles had plastic at death," said Dr. Chris Wilcox. , Principal Investigator at CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere.
"In other words, we wanted to know" How much plastic is too plastic? "for sea turtles."
Scientists found that once a turtle had 14 plastic objects in its gut, there was a 50% chance that it would cause death. However, that does not mean that a turtle will not die if it consumes less than 14 pieces of plastic.
Read more: According to a new report, cigarette butts are the main source of waste in the ocean
Sea turtles were among the first animals to ingest plastic debris, a phenomenon that occurs in all parts of the world and in the seven species of marine turtles.
Worldwide, it is estimated that 52% of all sea turtles consumed plastic. Determining the effect this has on turtle mortality is a step forward in understanding the impact of plastic pollution on sea turtle populations.
"Millions of tons of plastic debris enter the world's oceans every year," said Dr. Wilcox.
"The model we have developed can be adapted to help us understand the impact of plastic ingestion not only on individuals, but also on entire populations of other endangered marine species.
"The more we understand the problem, the better we are equipped to solve the problem and work on viable and scalable solutions."
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