PLOCLEAN
Plastic pollution is an increasingly present threat to marine ecosystems. When microscopic particles (microplastics) are discarded into waterways, they can interact with microbial communities and alter their distribution and activity. In addition, they can perturb the biogeochemical cycling events in which microbes participate. The EU-funded PLOCEAN project will combine field observations and theoretical studies to investigate how microplastics affect the microbes’ ability to transform organic compounds. The project will use cutting-edge polymer characterisation and metagenomics techniques to study plastic-specific microbial communities, their contribution to organic particles' ageing and their interaction with organic matrices. An important part of the work will be devoted to outreach activities and citizen science.
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Knowledge Gaps
Degradation
Environmental fate and behavior of plastic
Bioaccumulation, bioconcentration and persistence
Environmental effects and ecotoxicity
Bioaccumulation and biomagnification
Environmental exposure
Translocation within an organism
Characterization test methods
Biological processes and biotic interactions with plastic
Monitoring and detection equipment
Monitoring exposure methods
Publications
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