Deep-sea ecology faces multiple threats

Microplastics have posed a hidden threat to ecosystems such as the Mariana Trench by altering deep-sea microbial communities and material cycling, a team from China’s South China Agricultural University warns in a paper published in Science. The study found that deep-sea organisms are more sensitive to the cumulative effects of pollutants due to their slow life cycles. In addition, microplastics, as carriers of pathogens, may affect higher trophic level organisms through the food chain. Experts have called for deep-sea pollution to be incorporated into the framework of the United Nations Convention on Plastic Pollution to promote synergistic global governance.