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conferenceseries LLC Ltd
3rd International Conference on
3rd International Conference on
Ecology, Ecosystem and Conservation Biology
Microbial Ecology & Eco Systems
&
March 18-19, 2019 | Chicago, USA
Find More Information @ MARCH 2019 Conference Series LLC Ltd
Short term effects of
polystyrene plastic on
Aiptasia pallida
Natasha D Sawickij
Florida Southern College, USA
T his study focuses on the
effects of polystyrene
plastic (PS) on the anemone
Aiptasia pallida. PS plastic is
commonly used worldwide
and is found in a wide
variety of products. Some of
these include plastic used
in food services, packaging
for shipping, as well as for
many medical uses such as
tissue culture trays. Due to
the increasing amount of
plastic produced, much of it
is ending up in our oceans. It
is estimated that there are at
least 12.7 million metric tons
of plastics being released into
our oceans each year. This
study looks at the short term
effects plastic consumption
has on Aiptasia pallida,
specifically overall short term
health effects. Examples of
effects are weight and tentacle
area, the retention time of
plastic throughout a twelve
day study, and the anemones’
ability to extract heavy metals
out of the plastic. A total of
ten anemones were exposed
to plastic for twelve-days,
then kept at 20°C and then
kept at 25°C. It was found
that there was no statistical
difference between retention
time of plastics or the different
temperature treatments
(P-value 0.2048). It was found
that during the experiment,
the overall anemone weight
decreased, resulting in a
statistical difference between
day one and day twelve of
both treatments (P-value
0.001 and 0.005 respectively).
It was also found that
throughout the experiment
the average tentacle area
decreased for both treatment
types, however, 20°C was not
statistically significant with a
P-value of 0.09 while 25°C was
statistically significant with
a P-value of 0.0001. Overall
it was found that anemones
kept at different temperatures
did not show any preference
for consuming plastics, while
overall health decreased in
both cases due to plastic
exposure.
Biography
Natasha Sawickij is a recent
graduate of Florida Southern
College, attaining a BS in
Marine biology. She has
previous research experience
at the Duke Marine Lab
in Beaufort NC, under the
supervision of Dr. Daniel
Rittschof. During her senior
year at Florida Southern
College, Lakeland FL, she
was able to complete a study
on the Short-term effects
plastics have on the anemones
Aiptasia Pallida. She hopes to
attend graduate school this
coming fall.
POSTERS PRESENTATIONS | DAY 2 JOURNAL OF ECOSYSTEM& ECOGRAPHY 2019, VOLUME 9 | DOI: 10.4172/2157-7625-C1-045