Abstract
This research takes a holistic approach to considering the consequences of marine plastic pollution. A semi-systematic literature review of 1191 data points provides the basis to determine the global ecological, social and economic impacts. An ecosystem impact analysis demonstrates that there is global evidence of impact with medium to high frequency on all subjects, with a medium to high degree of irreversibility. A novel translation of these ecological impacts into ecosystem service impacts provides evidence that all ecosystem services are impacted to some extent by the presence of marine plastic, with a reduction in provision predicted for all except one. This reduction in ecosystem service provision is evidenced to have implications for human health and wellbeing, linked particularly to fisheries, heritage and charismatic species, and recreation.
Highlights
This research takes a holistic approach to considering the consequences of marine plastic pollution
Over time, this plastic may fragment into small pieces, referred to as ‘microplastics’ (0.1 μm–5 mm), the vast majority is expected to persist in the environment in some form over geological timescales (Andrady, 2015)
The results show all ecosystem services are impacted to some extent by the presence of marine plastic, with some reduction in the provision predicted for all the ecosystem services, with the exception of “regulation of the chemical condition of salt waters by living processes”
Summary
Marine ecosystem services comprehensively contribute to human wellbeing, meaning that their reduction will endanger the contined welfare of human societies, especially in coastal communities (Naeem et al, 2016). Plastic is frequently ingested by a wide range of marine species, including those directly vital to food provision such as shellfish and fish (Rochman et al, 2015) at all stages of their lifecycle (Steer et al, 2017; Lusher et al, 2012). This plastic can be ingested directly from the environment, or indirectly consumed via plastic contaminated prey (Setälä et al, 2014). The high dependency on seafood for nutrition leaves the wellbeing of a significant proportion of the world's population highly vulnerable to any changes in the quantity, quality and safety of this food source (Golden et al, 2016)
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