Plastic pollution has been found in seawater, on beaches and inside marine animals at the Galapagos Islands.
A new study – by the University of Exeter, Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT) and the Galapagos Science Center – found plastic in all marine habitats at the island of San Cristobal, where Charles Darwin first landed in Galapagos.
At the worst "hotspots" – including a beach used by the rare "Godzilla" marine iguana – more than 400 plastic particles were found per square metre of beach.
Plastic was also found inside more than half of the marine invertebrates (such as barnacles and urchins) studied, and on the seabed.
Read more at University of Exeter
Image: Plastic sampling on a beach in Galapagos. (Credit: Adam Porter)