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Environment

Tiny Marine Organisms At The Base Of The Food Chain Are Eating The Plastic We Toss In The Oceans

by The Daily Eye Team July 29 2015, 4:41 pm Estimated Reading Time: 0 mins, 46 secs

Tiny marine organisms sitting at the very bottom of our food chain are ingesting the plastics that humans are tossing by the ton into the world's oceans, say researchers in a new study published in the Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. The British Columbia-based scientists studied two species of zooplankton ? a microscopic organism found in the oceans, seas, and freshwater ? and discovered they were mistaking plastic for food, raising serious concerns about potential risks to all other species located above them in the food chain. "Zooplanktons are the grazers at the bottom of the food chain and they are absolutely critical food for virtually everyone in the food web," Peter Ross, one of the study authors and director of the Vancouver Aquarium's Ocean Pollution Research Program, told VICE News. "They are consumed by all ages and stages and size of fish, notably when they are young." Read More?at ?www.news.vice.com