Paris (AFP)

Microplastics infiltrate all over the world's oceans: they pollute even one of the most remote terrestrial ecosystems in Antarctica, according to a study published Wednesday.

Scientists have indeed found fragments of polystyrene in the bowels of springtails, tiny terrestrial arthropods, according to the article published in the journal Biology Letters.

Plastic particles have already been discovered in living organisms from the four corners of the ocean, to the bottom of the Marianas pit, the deepest known.

But "terrestrial contamination has been largely neglected," note the authors of the study published Wednesday.

They looked into the situation of the coasts of King George Island, one of the "most contaminated" regions of Antarctica due to the presence of scientific research stations, military infrastructure and even tourism.

They took from between the rocks a piece of expanded polystyrene covered with microalgae and lichens, the preferred food of cryptopygus antarcticus, among the only organisms capable of surviving in the climatic conditions of Antarctica.

The springtails found on this piece were analyzed using infrared imaging techniques which made it possible to detect "unequivocally" traces of polystyrene in the intestines of the small animal which can jump like a flea.

The fact that these springtails, very present in the soils of Antarctica - the parts not covered with ice, which represent less than 1% of the territory - "ingest microplastics implies that these materials created by man have entered deep into the soil food chain ", write the authors.

"Plastic has entered one of the most remote terrestrial food chains on the planet": this "represents a new potential stressor for polar ecosystems which are already facing climate change and the increase in human activities" , they warn.

The researchers point out the problem posed specifically by expanded polystyrene, whose porous structure allows the installation of mosses and microalgae which attract other organisms.

The effects of ingestion of microplastics by animals, marine or terrestrial, are still poorly understood, and teams around the world are seeking to assess the impact of chemicals associated with plastics or pathogens that can bind to them. floating debris.

The study authors also call for further research on the consequences of plastic ingestion on springtails and its predators.

© 2020 AFP