Plastic's Threat to Biodiversity

Look closely: petrels have downward-curved bills with special nostrils for salt excretion. As skilled swimmers with webbed feet, they exhibit an unusual bat-like fligh.

Swinhoe's fork-tailed Petrel often mistake plastic debris for food, especially floating plastic. A survey on Chilbaldo Island found plastic in 145 out of 146 petrel carcasses, revealing the deadly impact of plastic ingestion.

With wingspans reaching 2.1 meters, they can fly hundreds of kilometers with little flapping. Their overall body is white, but their primary wing feathers are distinctively black.

As a result, albatrosses often mistake plastic for food and swallow it or even feed it to their chicks. In fact, studies on Midway Atoll in Hawaii have found that more than 90% of albatross chicks had plastic in their stomachs.

Hawksbills can reach up to 1 meter in length and weigh an average of 80 kg. Their amber-colored shells feature irregular streaks and sawtooth-like edges, and their carapace scales are characterized by layered, tile-like scales.

Hawksbill sea turtles face increasing danger from plastic pollution. Floating plastic debris is often mistaken for food or becomes a deadly trap. Today, all seven species of sea turtles are listed as Critically Endangered (CITES Category I) and are protected worldwide.

During their marine phase, they are silvery-white with black spots, but as the spawning season begins, males develop reddish bodies marked with irregular green stripes.

Salmon are sensitive to water temperature changes, making them climate change indicators. In Korea, they have been designated as a bioindicator species for climate change, underscoring the importance of protecting the species.

Spotted seals are adept swimmers using forelimbs for steering and hind limbs for propulsion. They are awkward on land, however. They typically spend winter and early summer in ice-covered seas and summer and fall in coastal waters where the ocean meets the land.

The diet of a Spotted Seal consists mainly of fish. They also consume mollusks and crustaceans such as squid and octopus. In Korea, roughly 300 spotted seals are found around Baengnyeongdo Island during summer.

Spotted seals are vulnerable to entanglement in fishing nets, leading to injury or death. As the quantity of nets used and discarded grows annually, it increases the risk of entanglement. This poses a serious threat to the population of spotted seals.

This microorganism can decompose polyethylene (PE) found in plastic bags. After 50 days of culturing NNIBRFG59 on plastic film, the film’s weight decreased, revealing its ability to actively consume plastic.

NNIBRFG59 uses enzymes like oxidase, esterase, and laccase to break down polyethylene. These enzymes act like molecular "teeth", cutting and dissolving plastic. This shows nature's incredible ability to digest synthetic materials.