Ocean plastics raise risk of coral reef disease
 

MIAMI: When coral reefs come in contact with plastic trash in the ocean, their risk of becoming diseased skyrockets, said an international study out.Researchers examined more than 120,000 corals on 159 reefs ? some polluted with plastic, others not ? from Indonesia, Australia, Myanmar and Thailand for the study in the journal Science. ?We found that the chance of disease increased from four percent to 89 percent when corals are in contact with plastic,? said lead author Joleah Lamb, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Australia. Lamb said scientists are still trying to figure out why plastics are so dangerous for coral, which are living organisms that cover about 0.2 percent of the ocean floor ? but provide crucial habitat for nearly a million species of young fish. It could be that ?plastics make ideal vessels for colonizing microscopic organisms that could trigger disease if they come into contact with corals,? she said.

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