Impacts of spilled debris from the X-Press Pearl disaster in Sri Lanka on marine plankton.

Accidents of ships carrying diverse hazardous chemicals and plastics can lead to complex spills of pollutants in marine ecosystems. One such incident was the catastrophic fire on the container ship X-Press Pearl which sank off the Sri Lankan coast in 2021. Explosions and fire resulted in plastic pellets and burnt clumps of melted plastic and combustion residues washing ashore.

Impact of tire particle leachates on microplankton communities in the Canary Islands.

Tire wear particles (TWP) are a major source of microplastics in the environment. Despite their prevalence, the effects of tire particle leachates on marine microplankton communities remains poorly understood. In this study, we assessed the acute impacts of tire particle leachates on the structure of coastal microplankton assemblages from the Canary Islands.