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.
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