THE PLASTISPHERE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN: EXPÉDITION MED SETS SAIL TO STUDY THIS ALARMING ECOSYSTEM
(WorldNews Environment)

friday 23rd june 2017 Novamont is supporting the initiative Novara, 22 June 2017 - The Expédition MED 2017 scientific campaign sets sail today from the port of Fiumicino. For two months the crew of the Ainez will sail the waters of the central and southern Mediterranean in order to study the so-called plastisphere, the new ecosystem of marine microorganisms and bacteria which colonise and live on micro-fragments of degraded plastic. These microorganisms and bacteria feed on plastic particles and can transform themselves into microbial barriers which are entirely distinct from surrounding biological communities. According to marine biologists Linda Amaral-Zettler and Erik Zettler, whose...