Learning Intention:

In this activity, you will learn how nurdles accumulate metals and how they affect food webs.

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Background Information: 

Often our initial thought when thinking about the problems with nurdles is to think about how the plastic affects marine life. However, there is an important long term danger associated with nurdles which is not the plastic. Metals are present in our oceans due to pollution and runoff which carries into the ocean. Nurdles pick up these metals on their surface which means when an animal consumes the nurdle the metal is transferred into its body. Often these metals cannot be removed like plastics can, so when another animal consumes this animal the metals accumulate moving up the chain, eventually reaching us. These activities will focus on helping you understand this process and the long term effects this will cause

Part 1:

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Using the research from the group presentation in activity 1 part 2 create a map using images of how nurdles accumulate metals on them. 

There are some resources linked below to give you a start on your research. 

How heavy metals get in the ocean

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How nurdles accumulate metal

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Part 2:

This article describes the process of how metals latch onto the surface of plastics and the danger they cause. Your task is to analyse the article, finding the key points, and look at the following questions:

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1. How do metals stick onto the surface of nurdles? Draw a diagram of how you think the process occurs.

2. Why is this metal accumulation an issue for aquatic life? Think about the ingestion of nurdles.

3. What do we have to worry about in terms of heavy metals?

4. What do we as humans need to do to combat this issue?

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Part 3:

Using the link below as a guide, make your own food web

Plastic that's eaten by animals

This image contains several animals, by selecting one with your mouse you can get details about the animal. Using this image create a food web, which animal eats which, and also include nurdle transfers.

Some animals may not directly eat nurdles but may eat other species that do. This map does not include humans, add humans to the chain and decide on what species humans would consume and how much plastic would be in their body compared to other animals.

Questions:

1. What is the relationship between nurdles and the food chain? 

2. Why do some animals have significantly more nurdle ingestion than others?

3. What effects do nurdles have in this ecosystem?

4. Which species would benefit and which would suffer?

5. Is nurdle consumption a cause for concern for humanity’s health?

6. Research the term bioaccumulation and use it to describe the process that is occurring here.

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Extension activity:

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All the animals in the image above have been found containing plastic in their systems. Using this nurdle map compare locations of animals with where nurdles were found.

 

Questions:

1. Is there a connection between the number of species and the number of nurdles found in them?

2. Do species found in locations with a large number of nurdles have higher concentrations of plastic in their system?

3. Why do you think there are large amounts of nurdles found in some areas and not in others?

4. Is there a correlation between the locations that nurdles are found in and where they are produced?

5. Do countries with a higher priority on environmental health have the same issues with nurdle contamination as those that don't? Do some research to find out

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