Scientists are raising concerns after they found microplastics in dolphin breath. The study found a total of 54 unique particles across all of the exhalation samples when the animals came up for air.
The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.
“We know that microplastics are floating around in the air, so we suspected that we would find microplastics in breath samples,” the authors said. “We are concerned by what we are seeing because dolphins have a large lung capacity and take really deep breaths, so we are worried about what these plastics could be doing to their lungs.”
The most common microplastic found in the samples was polyethylene terephthalate (PET) (53 percent), and then polyester (24 percent). Polyamide was found in 12 percent of the samples along with polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) found in 6 percent of the samples.
“Microplastic inhalation in humans is a budding field, but there have been few studies in wildlife,” Leslie Hart, co-author of the study and associate professor of public health at College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina, said. “The fact that dolphins have a much larger lung capacity and are taking deep breaths may mean they are exposed to higher doses of microplastics than humans.”
When collecting exhalation samples from the dolphin blowholes, the scientists made sure to “clean ocean water from the blowhole area to avoid contamination,” EcoWatch reported. The team is concerned that the inhaled microplastics could affect the animals’ lungs linked to inflammation and oxidative stress from microplastic exposure to pulmonary fibrosis, making lung function for dolphins when diving more challenging.
“Dolphins rely on lung compression and collapse during diving, the capacity of which could be reduced by fibrosis,” the authors said. “Additionally, the depth at which lungs compress and collapse determines gas exchange, which would be limited by fibrosis as well.”
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