{"id":310,"date":"2026-03-27T09:26:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T09:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/theyre-everywhere-sea-turtles-now-nest-among-plastic-rocks\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T09:26:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T09:26:24","slug":"theyre-everywhere-sea-turtles-now-nest-among-plastic-rocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/theyre-everywhere-sea-turtles-now-nest-among-plastic-rocks\/","title":{"rendered":"They&#8217;re Everywhere: Sea Turtles Now Nest Among Plastic Rocks"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><\/figure>\n<p><strong>A study of sea turtle nesting sites on an isolated volcanic island off Brazil has revealed alarming concentrations of \u201cplastic rocks,\u201d underscoring once again the scale of this type of pollution.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Plastiglomerates<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In 2019, scientists had uncovered a cluster of unusual bluish rocks on Trindade Island, located about 1,140 kilometers off the coast of Esp\u00edrito Santo state in southeastern Brazil. Chemical analyses later revealed that they consisted of rocky sediments and melted plastic.<\/p>\n<section class=\"incontent-related\"><span class=\"incontent-related__title\">Read also<\/span> <span class=\"incontent-related__desc\">Behind every mosquito bite there may lie a major discovery about endangered species<\/span><\/section>\n<p>As part of new work published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin, the same team returned to Trindade Island and identified these \u201cplastiglomerates\u201d on six beaches, including Tartarugas (&#8220;turtle beach&#8221; in Portuguese), where significant populations of green turtles (<em>Chelonia mydas<\/em>) nest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>The question of whether we have entered the Anthropocene [the geological era characterized by the major impact of human activities on the planet] rests precisely on the presence of artificial materials buried in sediments<\/em>,\u201d explains the team. \u201c<em>On Trindade, they were found as deep as 10 centimeters below the surface of the nests<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The examination of the collected samples confirmed the presence of high-density polyethylene (used in ropes) as well as copper, clearly indicating that this pollution source originated from fishing and maritime transport. According to the team, the distinct shapes of the plastic rocks, smooth and rounded at the water\u2019s edge and becoming more irregular as one moves away from the shore, show that this material has now become an integral part of the beach&#8217;s \u201cgeological cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n<section class=\"incontent-related\"><span class=\"incontent-related__title\">Read also<\/span> <span class=\"incontent-related__desc\">Images show for the first time a red fox attacking a wolf cub<\/span><\/section>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"730\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774603583_259_Theyre-Everywhere-Sea-Turtles-Now-Nest-Among-Plastic-Rocks.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1003808\"  ><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Global Threat<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Today, no ecosystem escapes this form of pollution, found from the depths of the Mediterranean Sea to the summit of Mount Everest and all the way to Antarctica.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, an increasing number of studies have also revealed the presence of tiny plastic particles in several of our organs. Although their impact on human health remains poorly understood, research suggests they could disrupt the endocrine system in particular.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[276,275,277,278,243,273,274],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-among","tag-nest","tag-plastic","tag-rocks","tag-sea","tag-theyre","tag-turtles","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":312,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions\/312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}