By Monica Cull

Learn more about the marine fungi that could be conditioned to help clean up Hawai’i’s beaches.

Hawaii is home to some of the world’s most beautiful landscapes. Striking blue waters, lush jungles, and pristine beaches make it a paradise. It’s also home to other unique inhabitants, such as sea turtles, dolphins, and… plastics? 

According to a new study from the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa, plastics are becoming the most prevalent form of pollution in the ocean, which can be detrimental to marine species and their habitat. However, researchers from UH discovered a fungus from Hawai‘i’s nearshore environment that may have the ability to break down plastics, and to top it off, they may be conditioned to do it faster. The findings were recently published in Mycologia.

“Plastic in the environment today is extremely long-lived and is nearly impossible to degrade using existing technologies,” said Ronja Steinbach, lead author of the study and a marine biology undergraduate student at the UH Mānoa College of Natural Sciences, in a press release.

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