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| Title |
Exceptional and rapid accumulation of anthropogenic debris on one of the world’s most remote and pristine islands
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, May 2017
|
| DOI | 10.1073/pnas.1619818114 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Jennifer L. Lavers, Alexander L. Bond |
| Abstract |
In just over half a century plastic products have revolutionized human society and have infiltrated terrestrial and marine environments in every corner of the globe. The hazard plastic debris poses to biodiversity is well established, but mitigation and planning are often hampered by a lack of quantitative data on accumulation patterns. Here we document the amount of debris and rate of accumulation on Henderson Island, a remote, uninhabited island in the South Pacific. The density of debris was the highest reported anywhere in the world, up to 671.6 items/m(2) (mean ± SD: 239.4 ± 347.3 items/m(2)) on the surface of the beaches. Approximately 68% of debris (up to 4,496.9 pieces/m(2)) on the beach was buried <10 cm in the sediment. An estimated 37.7 million debris items weighing a total of 17.6 tons are currently present on Henderson, with up to 26.8 new items/m accumulating daily. Rarely visited by humans, Henderson Island and other remote islands may be sinks for some of the world's increasing volume of waste. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 40 | 10% |
| United Kingdom | 37 | 10% |
| Canada | 14 | 4% |
| Australia | 12 | 3% |
| Spain | 5 | 1% |
| France | 4 | 1% |
| Chile | 4 | 1% |
| Ireland | 3 | <1% |
| Germany | 2 | <1% |
| Other | 29 | 8% |
| Unknown | 231 | 61% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 284 | 75% |
| Scientists | 75 | 20% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 18 | 5% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 3 | <1% |
| Unknown | 1 | <1% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 630 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 2 | <1% |
| Netherlands | 1 | <1% |
| Italy | 1 | <1% |
| Germany | 1 | <1% |
| Israel | 1 | <1% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | <1% |
| Denmark | 1 | <1% |
| Spain | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 621 | 99% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 100 | 16% |
| Student > Master | 92 | 15% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 91 | 14% |
| Student > Bachelor | 72 | 11% |
| Other | 34 | 5% |
| Other | 84 | 13% |
| Unknown | 157 | 25% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental Science | 154 | 24% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 118 | 19% |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 42 | 7% |
| Engineering | 33 | 5% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 18 | 3% |
| Other | 78 | 12% |
| Unknown | 187 | 30% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2485. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 October 2023.
All research outputs
#3,240
of 26,362,847 outputs
Outputs from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
#94
of 104,810 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#29
of 329,312 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
#1
of 927 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 26,362,847 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 104,810 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 40.1. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 329,312 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 927 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its contemporaries.