Interactions between vertical migration and local oceanography drive microplastic exposure for Antarctic krill
Katherine L Gallagher, Clara Manno · 2026
Read Interactions between vertical migration and local oceanography drive microplastic exposure for Antarctic krill by Katherine L Gallagher, Clara Manno (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13370005.txt.
Description
Katherine Gallagher and Clara Manno modeled in 2026 where Antarctic krill meet microplastics along the West Antarctic Peninsula. Krill anchor the Southern Ocean food web, and plastic particles now drift through their waters. The team simulated both wanderers: krill that swim up and down each day, and plastics that ride the currents.
The model found repeat hotspots where the two gather together more than average. Surface and deep currents each shaped the overlap, and the krill's daily vertical commute modulated it further. The authors warn that judging plastic risk from surface maps alone would mislead. Exposure depends on behavior meeting oceanography in the same water. The hotspots give future sampling and protection efforts a map to start from.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Katherine L Gallagher, Clara Manno |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 35 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |