Microplastics in the ocean: Effects on marine animals
Ingestion of microplastic particles does not mechanically affect marine isopods. This was the result of a study by biologists at the North Sea Office of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). A long-term experiment could also show that isopods did not display any long-term effects even after feeding on microplastic enriched food for six to seven weeks. Fitness parameters such as survival rate and growth did not differ between animals that were fed with and without microplastics, respectively.