Hermit crabs using plastic rubbish as artificial shells

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Hermit crabs famously don't make their own shells but instead use discarded ones found on the ocean floor. Now new photos show the crustaceans are also turning to "artificial shells" made from plastic waste.

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00:00 It is well known that people often take pictures of animals that are trapped or entangled in

00:07 plastic, and they have noticed that along a similar line, people have been taking pictures

00:14 of hermit crabs that had plastic on their back, like plastic screw caps, for example,

00:19 or bulbs on their backs.

00:22 And there is a realization with a science called iEcology, Internet Ecology, that when

00:29 people post images online, these images are geo-localized and we realize that using plastic

00:37 instead of their natural shells is a pervasive phenomenon occurring on all of the Earth's

00:43 tropical coasts, and it is a phenomenon also occurring in 10 species out of all 16 species

00:49 of terrestrial hermit crabs.

00:52 And so how prolific is it?

00:56 So this is something that we need to test in the field.

00:59 What we know with Internet Ecology is that this behavior of using plastic has been documented

01:05 across over two-thirds of hermit crabs.

01:09 And now we don't know, it is difficult with iEcology to know about the incidence on how

01:14 often it happens.

01:15 So that's something that we need to test experimentally and in the field.

01:19 So and when you saw all these images of these natural creatures with these plastic lids,

01:26 how did you feel about it?

01:28 Yeah, so on one hand, it's quite heartbreaking.

01:33 At the same time, I think we need to maybe take a step back as well and realize that

01:38 it is yet another animal species that is using increasingly so plastic, so man-made material,

01:45 into their biological life cycle.

01:47 Birds do it as well.

01:49 They are using plastic to build, to weave elements of plastic into their nests.

01:54 And now we realize that many, many species of hermit crabs are using plastic as well.

01:59 It's a sign of our times and it might impact their evolution, their evolutionary trajectory.

02:06 So we need to see what happens in the longer run.

02:10 But are they actually pretty effective?

02:14 So this is what we do not know.

02:16 But what's interesting is that plastic shells are most likely lighter than natural shells

02:23 that they would be carrying on their back.

02:24 So they actually end up having, they might end up having a surplus of energy that they

02:30 might allocate for reproduction, for example.

02:32 So there is a whole number of biological questions that have emerged from this eye ecology study

02:39 that only could illustrate a presence or absence of plastic use.

02:44 But now it's as if new doors are opening into inquiring about new elements of the biology

02:51 of these crabs in the Anthropocene.

02:54 And is it the case that snail shells are harder to find these days as well?

03:00 Absolutely.

03:01 So there are reports that there is a decreasing amount of shells in the environment, while

03:06 plastic pollution is, of course, increasing and ever more pervasive.

03:10 So it might very well be that crabs use plastic simply because it's out there.

03:15 It's more, it's easier to get.

03:18 And so, again, this is something that can be tested in the field and in the wild.

03:24 But I think it's also a reflection of the general problem that plastic is bringing in

03:29 society and in our biodiversity as a whole.

03:34 And hopefully these images will also spur the need to halt plastic production on the

03:41 massive scale that we're experiencing now.

03:44 And Marta, I'm just interested as to how someone in Warsaw gets a fascination with hermit crabs.

03:51 Are there heaps of hermit crabs in the Baltic?

03:54 No, there aren't.

03:57 But this is the beauty of eye ecology is that it is a free access in terms of scientists

04:03 worldwide.

04:04 My colleagues from Poznan have been, have joined, have initiated the study.

04:10 And as a trio of researchers from Poland, we could inquire, you know, something that

04:16 is happening miles and miles away.

04:18 And are you continuing with your work on hermit crabs or looking into something else now?

04:24 We're very much looking forward to pursue this line of research.

04:27 We're also doing research on heat stress and urban biology, urban evolution as well.

04:33 So it's a wide, I think it's a wide range of questions that pertain to the Anthropocene,

04:38 the human led era that we're living in currently.

04:41 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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