Plastic trash transports microbes around the ocean, bringing disease to coral reefs

An international study revealed that plastic waste drifting in the ocean could adversely impact the corals it gets tangled with, as the material provides a favorable environment for microbial colonization. The study, which was published in the journal Science, investigated 159 coral reefs in the Asia-Pacific region to determine how the plastic debris affects the coral, as well as the likelihood of disease of a coral tangled with plastic.