Dubai Telegraph - Shells to surfboards: how wildlife has adapted to plastic

EUR -
AED 3.985527
AFN 72.702436
ALL 98.306928
AMD 419.156249
ANG 1.951957
AOA 989.60532
ARS 1072.900936
AUD 1.65046
AWG 1.955881
AZN 1.84833
BAM 1.95696
BBD 2.186817
BDT 129.429126
BGN 1.956147
BHD 0.409082
BIF 3146.307494
BMD 1.085093
BND 1.433624
BOB 7.484576
BRL 6.254586
BSD 1.083027
BTN 91.073477
BWP 14.479585
BYN 3.544467
BYR 21267.829963
BZD 2.183104
CAD 1.510157
CDF 3155.451537
CHF 0.939045
CLF 0.037824
CLP 1043.686119
CNY 7.726192
CNH 7.7251
COP 4789.905941
CRC 554.923907
CUC 1.085093
CUP 28.754974
CVE 110.332451
CZK 25.385734
DJF 192.86613
DKK 7.459149
DOP 65.218068
DZD 144.714114
EGP 52.90991
ERN 16.2764
ETB 132.784906
FJD 2.442325
FKP 0.83028
GBP 0.837589
GEL 2.978582
GGP 0.83028
GHS 17.654793
GIP 0.83028
GMD 75.423349
GNF 9340.451991
GTQ 8.371118
GYD 226.59853
HKD 8.432781
HNL 27.324949
HRK 7.475241
HTG 142.531882
HUF 408.181727
IDR 17029.672296
ILS 4.035625
IMP 0.83028
INR 91.238773
IQD 1418.867416
IRR 45674.292339
ISK 148.494776
JEP 0.83028
JMD 171.460081
JOD 0.769659
JPY 165.835928
KES 139.716693
KGS 93.087062
KHR 4397.526295
KMF 492.199085
KPW 976.583784
KRW 1496.564954
KWD 0.332559
KYD 0.90256
KZT 529.271128
LAK 23762.527081
LBP 96824.392781
LKR 317.334
LRD 207.953298
LSL 19.062754
LTL 3.203998
LVL 0.656362
LYD 5.227027
MAD 10.676927
MDL 19.435882
MGA 4976.950897
MKD 61.531429
MMK 3524.340924
MNT 3687.147286
MOP 8.67
MRU 43.063136
MUR 50.033374
MVR 16.6564
MWK 1878.013498
MXN 21.882749
MYR 4.751409
MZN 69.338506
NAD 19.062666
NGN 1781.44084
NIO 39.852711
NOK 11.905362
NPR 145.714053
NZD 1.815345
OMR 0.417756
PAB 1.083062
PEN 4.084597
PGK 4.339533
PHP 63.153554
PKR 300.871932
PLN 4.353854
PYG 8570.160336
QAR 3.949515
RON 4.974717
RSD 117.036039
RUB 105.280746
RWF 1473.860287
SAR 4.075302
SBD 9.023996
SCR 15.235119
SDG 652.683476
SEK 11.598357
SGD 1.434748
SHP 0.83028
SLE 24.577361
SLL 22753.861856
SOS 618.961286
SRD 37.291435
STD 22459.24187
SVC 9.476794
SYP 2726.329925
SZL 19.058036
THB 36.601825
TJS 11.524045
TMT 3.808678
TND 3.363556
TOP 2.541394
TRY 37.183763
TTD 7.349493
TWD 34.681208
TZS 2956.879513
UAH 44.690698
UGX 3969.426686
USD 1.085093
UYU 44.407558
UZS 13835.458226
VEF 3930807.721132
VES 46.126323
VND 27447.436679
VUV 128.824497
WST 3.039546
XAF 656.337077
XAG 0.032168
XAU 0.000399
XCD 2.932519
XDR 0.814083
XOF 656.337077
XPF 119.331742
YER 271.626002
ZAR 19.165248
ZMK 9767.140155
ZMW 28.837364
ZWL 349.399621
  • SCS

    0.0200

    12.23

    +0.16%

  • NGG

    -0.0500

    65.07

    -0.08%

  • RELX

    -1.0000

    46.91

    -2.13%

  • BCC

    2.7300

    134.37

    +2.03%

  • GSK

    -1.1600

    37.01

    -3.13%

  • CMSC

    0.0200

    24.59

    +0.08%

  • RBGPF

    -0.0800

    60.92

    -0.13%

  • BTI

    -0.1000

    34.36

    -0.29%

  • BP

    -0.3400

    29.02

    -1.17%

  • BCE

    -0.2200

    32.24

    -0.68%

  • RIO

    -0.6800

    65.9

    -1.03%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0300

    7.22

    -0.42%

  • JRI

    0.0700

    13.05

    +0.54%

  • VOD

    0.1100

    9.39

    +1.17%

  • CMSD

    -0.0100

    24.83

    -0.04%

  • AZN

    -2.3900

    72.83

    -3.28%

Shells to surfboards: how wildlife has adapted to plastic
Shells to surfboards: how wildlife has adapted to plastic / Photo: Andrej ISAKOVIC - AFP/File

Shells to surfboards: how wildlife has adapted to plastic

A hermit crab trundles across a beach in Japan's Okinawa, carrying its home on its back: not a shell, but a disintegrating plastic yellow measuring spoon.

Text size:

The crab is far from alone. Plastic waste has become so pervasive in the natural environment that it is fundamentally changing the ways animals live and travel, according to scientists.

Here are some examples of that adaptation:

- Plastic habitats -

Around 435 million tonnes of plastic waste is produced globally each year, with about 22 million tonnes discarded in the environment, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Birds, bees, crabs and other marine life now regularly incorporate that refuse into their homes.

A study this year analysed images uploaded to amateur naturalist sites and found hermit crabs worldwide are using artificial items for shells.

Plastic was the most common choice, though photographer Shawn Miller has seen the animals take up residence in glass bottle necks, detergent tops and even the ends of light bulbs.

He was "absolutely amazed" the first time he spotted a crab inside a plastic home on a beach in Japan in 2010.

"I couldn't stop thinking about it," he told AFP.

"We were surprised... this is pretty shocking, why is this adapting like this?"

The behaviour is increasingly being documented across many species.

Birds have been recorded weaving scraps of plastic bags into nests, and even using colourful pieces of litter for decoration to win breeding advantages.

One study found bees using parts of plastic bags and plastic sealant in their nests.

Theories on why animals are incorporating plastics into their habitats vary, but researchers suggest the sheer abundance of plastic in the environment plays a part.

Hermit crabs are also grappling with fewer available shells as mollusc populations decline, so "it may be less costly energy-wise to find an artificial shell than a natural one", the authors of the study wrote.

- Migration on plastics -

Debris like wood has long allowed species to migrate across oceans from one coastline to another, but these naturally occuring surfboards are relatively scarce and degrade quickly.

Plastic, by comparison, is plentiful and long-lasting, so it offers many more opportunities for species to move.

The phenomenon was seen at unusual scale after the 2011 tsunami in Japan, when the waves swept large amounts of human-made debris from land into the ocean and eventually deposited it along the US Pacific Northwest.

One study found nearly 300 living Japanese coastal marine species that arrived on plastic and other human-made items.

This traffic increases the risk of invasive species taking hold, scientists warn.

Plastic is even allowing creatures that normally live along coasts to survive and reproduce on the open oceans.

A 2023 study found coastal species living on 70 percent of samples collected from the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, an ocean current that is also a concentrated site of debris including plastic.

"Coastal species persist now in the open ocean," the authors wrote, "sustained by the vast and expanding sea of plastic debris."

- Plastic tools -

The plethora of plastic in the ocean also means the items are being used as tools.

Both sea urchins and octopuses have been documented using discarded plastic as camouflage.

A study of sea urchins that are commonly found in the western Atlantic found they were actively choosing plastic debris to cover themselves instead of natural materials like rocks.

Scientists believe the urchins cover themselves in part for shade and warned the more translucent plastic debris now being used raises the risk of sunburn for the creatures.

Octopuses have been observed using plastic to disguise the entrances to their homes, or settling inside plastic waste.

They have also been spotted "stilt-walking" -- stepping along the sea bed on their tentacles -- while carrying plastic debris used to cover themselves.

Scientists believe they have only scratched the surface of the way animals are being forced to adapt to plastic, and the harmful effects of this exposure.

Authors of the octopus study urged "urgent measures to reduce litter impacts not only for cephalopods, but for all marine organisms and ecosystems".

F.El-Yamahy--DT