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Ingestion and retention of microplastics by corals and sponges
This study reveals more than 1000-fold variation in microplastic ingestion among different benthic filter-feeding genera that are abundant on coral reefs. Overall, genera with larger polyp sizes (e.g. Dipsastrea) ingested more microbeads per unit tissue area than genera with small polyps (e.g. Acropora). Microbeads were observed adhering to the external surfaces of corals and sponges, and were also ingested into the polyp cavity of hard and soft corals, and into the internal canals and chambers of sponges. After ingestion, microbeads were retained for up to 14 days although retention was variable both within- and among-genera. Finally, we observed greater ingestion of small and/or medium sized microbeads (27 – 75 µm diameter) compared with large microbeads (300 - 1000 µm diameter) for all six hard coral genera examined, but greater ingestion of medium (45 - 53 µm diameter) than small microbeads (27 - 32 µm diameter) for the two sponge genera and the soft coral Lobophytum. Software/equipment used to create/collect the data: Aquarium-based experiments conducted at Orpheus Island Research Station and Marine Aquaculture Research Facility at James Cook University. Laboratory analysis of samples involving tissue analyses and microscopy. Histology methods to section coral tissues. Software/equipment used to manipulate/analyse the data: Data were analysed in R
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Ingestion and retention of microplastics by corals and sponges
Data Publication title
Ingestion and retention of microplastics by corals and sponges
Description
This study reveals more than 1000-fold variation in microplastic ingestion among different benthic filter-feeding genera that are abundant on coral reefs. Overall, genera with larger polyp sizes (e.g. Dipsastrea) ingested more microbeads per unit tissue area than genera with small polyps (e.g. Acropora). Microbeads were observed adhering to the external surfaces of corals and sponges, and were also ingested into the polyp cavity of hard and soft corals, and into the internal canals and chambers of sponges. After ingestion, microbeads were retained for up to 14 days although retention was variable both within- and among-genera. Finally, we observed greater ingestion of small and/or medium sized microbeads (27 – 75 µm diameter) compared with large microbeads (300 - 1000 µm diameter) for all six hard coral genera examined, but greater ingestion of medium (45 - 53 µm diameter) than small microbeads (27 - 32 µm diameter) for the two sponge genera and the soft coral Lobophytum. Software/equipment used to create/collect the data: Aquarium-based experiments conducted at Orpheus Island Research Station and Marine Aquaculture Research Facility at James Cook University. Laboratory analysis of samples involving tissue analyses and microscopy. Histology methods to section coral tissues. Software/equipment used to manipulate/analyse the data: Data were analysed in R
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This dataset is available as a workbook (5 sheets) saved in both MS Excel (.xlsx) and Open Document (.ods) formats.
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Note
Data type
dataset
Keywords
Scleractinia
soft corals
sponges
marine debris
plastic pollution
coral heterotrophy
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Funding source
Australian Research Council
Research grant(s)/Scheme name(s)
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
Research themes
Tropical Ecosystems, Conservation and Climate Change
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Temporal (time) coverage
Start Date
2017/03/06
End Date
2018/05/31
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Data Locations
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Location
Notes
Attachment
HoogenboomEtAl_MicroplasticsIngestion_DataUpload.xlsx
MS Excel (.xlsx) format
Attachment
HoogenboomEtAl_MicroplasticsIngestion_DataUpload.ods
Open Document (.ods) format
The Data Manager is:
Mia Hoogenboom
College or Centre
College of Science & Engineering
Access conditions
Open: free access under license
Alternative access conditions
Data record size
2 files: 223 MB
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The data will be licensed under
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International
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Data owners
James Cook University
- Citation
Citation
Hoogenboom, Mia; Jaeckli, Anya; Bauer-Civiello, Anne; Jurriaans, Saskia; Paley, Allison (2021): Ingestion and retention of microplastics by corals and sponges. James Cook University. https://doi.org/10.25903/7ghs-p622