Data from 'Millimeter-sized Marine Plastics: A New Pelagic Habitat for Microorganisms and Invertebrates'

This fileset provides data and SEM images described in:

Reisser J, Shaw J, Hallegraeff G, Proietti M, Barnes DKA, Thums M, Wilcox C, Hardesty BD, Pattiaratchi (2014) Millimeter-sized Marine Plastics: A New Pelagic Habitat for Microorganisms and Invertebrates. PLOS ONE 

If you have any question/comment, please contact us at jureisser@gmail.com

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Description of files

DataTable.xlsx --> contains information related to the collection sites, plastic characteristics, and organism/surface microtexture presence-absence data decribed in the PLOS ONE manuscript.

.tif files --> scanning electron microscopy images of marine plastic debris (N = 1143 images). The first number of the file name is the identification number of the plastic imaged (N = 68 pieces; see 1st column of DataTable.xls).

.txt files --> Polymer type as estimated by Perkin-Elmer ATR of Polymers Library (N = 66).

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Description of the variables/columns of DataTable.xlsx

# -> plastic identification number. Goes from 1 untill 68.

Type -> type of plastic. Hard (rigid fragment), Soft (flexible fragment), Pellet (raw material used to make plastic objects - see http://www.pelletwatch.org), Styro (expanded polystyrene/Styrofoam fragment).

Polymer -> polymer the plastic piece is made of. PE (polyethylene), PP (polypropylene), PS (polystyrene).

Length -> plastic length, in millimeters. Measured using ImageJ.

Solidity -> plastic solidity index. Measured using ImageJ.

Area -> plastic area, in squared millimeters. Measured using ImageJ.

Perimeter -> plastic perimeter, in millimeters. Measured using ImageJ.

Circularity -> plastic circularity index. Measured using ImageJ

AspectRatio -> plastic aspect ratio. Measured using ImageJ.

Roundness -> plastic roundness index. Measured using ImageJ.

LinearFracture -> presence/absence of linear fracture on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

ConchoidalFracture -> presence/absence of conchoidal fracture on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Pit -> presence/absence of pit on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Groove -> presence/absence of groove on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Diatom -> presence/absence of diatom on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Coccolith -> presence/absence of coccolith on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Dinoflagellate -> presence/absence of dinoflagellate on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Round<1micron -> presence/absence of rounded cell smaller than 1 micrometer on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Round>=1micron -> presence/absence of rounded cell bigger than 1 micrometer on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Elong<1micron -> presence/absence of elongated cell smaller than 1 micrometer on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Elong>=1micron -> presence/absence of elongated cell bigger than 1 micrometer on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Spiral -> presence/absence of spiral cell on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Bryo -> presence/absence of bryozoan on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Lepas -> presence/absence of Lepas on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Isopod -> presence/absence of isopod on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Egg -> presence/absence of egg on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Worm -> presence/absence of worm on the plastic. 1=present, 0=absent.

Region -> marine region where the plastic was collected. North West, South West, South East, Temperate East, Coral Sea, and Pacific (see Figure 1 of the paper).

Date -> date (day.month.year) when the plastic was collected.

SeaTemperature -> Sea surface water temperature (in degrees celsius) of the plastic collection site.

Salinity -> Sea surface salinity of the plastic collection site.

Latitute -> latitude (in degrees) of the plastic collection site.

Longitude -> longitude (in degrees) of the plastic collection site.

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