The extent to which plastics have permeated Earth’s ecosystems is demonstrated by a world-first study that showed amounts of plastics in certain lakes higher than in the worst contaminated areas of seas.
38 lakes and reservoirs from across the globe, including those in Australia, the US, the UK, and Europe, were sampled for a recent study. Plastics and microplastics were discovered at all sites, even the most isolated ones.
Lakes serve as human activity’s sentinels. Issues including algae blooms, deoxygenation, over-extraction, and dryness are already plaguing many lakes. An additional concern to these already stressed-out ecosystems is plastic contamination.