Summary
Plastic pollution affects biodiversity across multiple levels – from individual species to communities and entire ecosystems. It can threaten the survival of key species that underpin ecosystem function, yet our understanding of these impacts remains incomplete. There is growing recognition that vulnerability to plastic pollution varies across species, shaped by biological and ecological traits such as longevity or feeding behavior; for example, scavenging seabirds that regurgitate food may experience distinct exposure pathways. At the same time, different types of plastic pose varying risks to different organisms. This heterogeneity complicates efforts to evaluate progress toward policy goals, as the real-world ecological impacts of interventions remain difficult to measure, especially when effects are sublethal and ecosystem-level changes are subtle.
Our Research
We are working to identify which species and regions are most at risk, with the aim of targeting interventions where they can have the greatest impact. We also developed approaches to better assess ecosystem-level consequences of plastic pollution. Ultimately, our goal with this work is to integrate insights from intervention strategies and species trait-based vulnerability to inform more effective, evidence-based decision-making.
Our early work helped identify what we would need to do to achieve our targets and we found that high-income countries, like the United States, would need to reduce their plastic production by 40%, increase waste management to >99% and clean-up 40% of plastic in the environment every year to achieve our goals (we would need similar efforts from every country across the globe). This model can be used to inform the creation of a scalable decision-tool that will support municipalities, nations and international organizations in identifying the most effective management strategies for plastic pollution.
A new project analyzing the effectiveness of a multi-stakeholder waste reduction and removal program to mitigate marine debris in American Samoa is a collaboration between the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes and Ocean Conservancy, as well as Ocean Conservancy and the University of Toronto’s initiative the International Trash Trap Network (ITTN). ITTN helps communities implement trash interception technologies (a.k.a. trash traps), gather data and measure impact through a free app (Clean Swell®) and public database (TIDES), and implement relevant outreach in the community as part of the International Coastal Cleanup® (ICC).
Ocean Conservancy and ITTN will provide local project partners with guidance for the selection and installation of appropriate trash collection devices in American Samoa, and will facilitate the training of local environmental protection agency staff and contractors in the monitoring and maintenance of these devices using their established protocols. Center for Biodiversity Outcomes researchers will lead efforts to quantify and report on the outcomes of the implementation of trash traps and bailers.
Publications
- Borrelle, S. B., Ringma, J., Law, K. L., Monnahan, C. C., Lebreton, L., McGivern, A., Murphy, E., Jambeck, J., Leonard, G. H., Hilleary, M. A., Eriksen, M., Possingham, H. P., De Frond, H., Gerber, L. R., Polidoro, B., Tahir, A., Bernard, M., Mallos, N., Barnes, M., & Rochman, C. M. (2020). Predicted growth in plastic waste exceeds efforts to mitigate plastic pollution. Science, 369(6510), 1515–1518. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aba3656
- Murphy, E. L., Bernard, M., Iacona, G., Borrelle, S. B., Barnes, M., McGivern, A., Emmanuel, J., & Gerber, L. R. (2022). A decision framework for estimating the cost of marine plastic pollution interventions. Conservation Biology. 2022;36:e13827. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13827
- Murphy, E. L., Polidoro, B., & Gerber, L. R. (2022). The plastic-scape: Applying seascape ecology to marine plastic pollution. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.980835
- Helm, L. T., Murphy, E. L., McGivern, A., & Borrelle, S. B. (2022). Impacts of plastic waste management strategies. Environmental Reviews, 31(1), 45–65. https://doi.org/10.1139/er-2021-0117
- Murphy, E. L., Gerber, L. R., Rochman, C. M., & Polidoro, B. (2023). A macroplastic vulnerability index for marine mammals, seabirds, and sea turtles in Hawai‘i. The Science of the Total Environment, 908, 168247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168247
- Murphy, E. L., Fredette-Roman, C., Rochman, C. M., Gerber, L. R., & Polidoro, B. (2023). A multi-taxonomic, trait-based framework for assessing macroplastic vulnerability. The Science of the Total Environment, 892, 164563. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164563