Plastic waste associated with disease on coral reefs

TLDR

Coral reefs provide vital fisheries and coastal defense, yet they urgently need protection from the damaging effects of plastic waste. The study surveyed 159 coral reefs in the Asia‑Pacific region and found that plastic debris stresses corals through light deprivation, toxin release, and anoxia, facilitating pathogen invasion. Billions of plastic items were entangled in reefs, spikier coral species were more likely to snag plastic, and disease likelihood increased 20‑fold when corals were draped in plastic. Lamb et al., Science, this issue p.

Abstract

Corals wrapped in plastic Coral reefs provide vital fisheries and coastal defense, and they urgently need protection from the damaging effects of plastic waste. Lamb et al. surveyed 159 coral reefs in the Asia-Pacific region. Billions of plastic items were entangled in the reefs. The more spikey the coral species, the more likely they were to snag plastic. Disease likelihood increased 20-fold once a coral was draped in plastic. Plastic debris stresses coral through light deprivation, toxin release, and anoxia, giving pathogens a foothold for invasion. Science , this issue p. 460