We Are All Affecting the Dolphin Population Using Microplastic Elements The Woman Post | Catalina Mejía Listen to this article Your browser does not support the audio tag. Plastic waste can physically injure wildlife either externally by suffocation or entanglement or internally by blocking their gastrointestinal tract. It is worth learning how microplastics have affected dolphin populations, to raise awareness on ways to avoid this. According to Jambeck and colleagues, over 13 million tonnes of plastics enter the oceans per year. However, microplastics may cause a more pervasive threat to marine life due to their abundance, small size, and bioavailability to many forms of life within the food webs.