SUBMON
  • Element del menú
    • About us
      • Our team
      • Mission, vision y values
      • Transparency
    • Activity
      • Conservation and marine biodiversity
      • Environmental education and training workshops
      • Restoration, improvement and mitigation of impact on species of marine ecosystems projects
      • Sustainable activities for marine environment
    • Collaborate
    • News
    • Contact us
    • Element del menú
    • English
      • Català
      • Español
  • English
    • Català
    • Español
    • English
SUBMON
  • About us
    • Our team
    • Mission, vision y values
    • Transparency
  • Activity
    • Conservation and marine biodiversity
    • Environmental education and training workshops
    • Restoration, improvement and mitigation of impact on species of marine ecosystems projects
    • Sustainable activities for marine environment
  • Collaborate
  • News
  • Contact us
  • Element del menú
  • English
    • Català
    • Español
Conservation

Litter that smells like food

November 12, 2020
By Andreu Dalmau
0 Comment
740 Views
Article by Andreu Dalmau

It is well known that marine litter negatively impacts the marine environment. This litter, composed mainly of plastics, threatens many marine organisms through entanglement or ingestion, being a major cause of mortality and injuries.

The reason why marine fauna is attracted to marine litter has typically been attributed to confusion: a plastic bag in the water can look like another marine organism (jellyfish, cephalopod, etc.) and that’s why it is ingested. Despite this, the ingested litter is neither made up exclusively of plastic bags nor it looks always similar (at least apparently) to another marine organism. This fact questions that the only reason for the interaction between marine fauna and litter is caused by a visual mistake. Another sense could also play a very important role: smell.

plastic turtle
Experimental set-up and response of sea turtles to odors emanating from biofouled plastic in relation to other treatments (Pfaller et al. 2020).

The role of smell in attracting marine species to litter has been tested in a study focused on the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) that was carried out in the United States. In that study, the reaction and behavior of the sea turtles when perceiving airborne odorants of four different elements (deionized water, turtle food, clean plastic (fragments of a plastic bottle) and biofouled plastic (fragments of a bottle of plastic that was exposed to biofouling for 5 weeks in the marine environment)) was studied. The different odorants were delivered separately to assess the behavior of the turtles in each case, having the same response when food and biofouled plastic odorants were emitted. In both cases, sea turtles adopted what was considered a foraging behavior.

This fact had previously been demonstrated in other studies focused on seabirds, showing that biofouled plastic litter emanates airborne odorants that marine predators use to identify prey and high production areas in the ocean. Therefore, it seems that the interaction between some marine species and litter is not exclusively caused by visual confusion. Unfortunately, marine litter smells like food.

You can find the full article here.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Whatsapp

Previous Story
Who is who? Photo-identifying cetaceans in the AHAB Project
Next Story
Blue-ringed octopus: little and lethal

Related Articles

Posidonia oceanica

SUBMON participates in the seagrass monitoring and evaluation campaign led by the IEO as part of the Marine Strategies

SUBMON is part of the technical team of the CATGRASS23...

Ocean Citizen Horizon Europe project

A beacon of hope: unveiling the OCEAN CITIZEN project for ocean regeneration

SUBMON is proud to be part of the OCEAN CITIZEN...

Leave your comment Cancel Reply

(will not be shared)

Categories

  • Conservation
  • Environmental education and awareness
  • Mitigation of environmental impact
  • Sustainable development
  • Uncategorized

Join our newsletter

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Legal notice  |   Privacy policy   |   Cookie policy

SearchPostsLoginCart
Friday, 1, Sep
SUBMON participates in the seagrass monitoring and evaluation campaign led by the IEO as part of the Marine Strategies
Friday, 4, Aug
A beacon of hope: unveiling the OCEAN CITIZEN project for ocean regeneration
Friday, 28, Jul
CATaMARà successfully completes tools and resources to disseminate the Natura 2000 Marine Network of Catalonia
Friday, 14, Jul
An identification guide to bring you closer to the marine biodiversity of Catalonia
Friday, 26, May
Great success in the training of the longline fishing sector in Costa Rica and Panama
Thursday, 23, Mar
Shark and ray eggs in Spain: learn how to identify them and collaborate with data collection

Welcome back,