Micro- and Nanoplastics in Marine Sediment: Detecting Particles and Assessing Impacts on Benthic Communities
Citation:
Giroux, M., R. Burgess, AND K. Ho. Micro- and Nanoplastics in Marine Sediment: Detecting Particles and Assessing Impacts on Benthic Communities. Seminar for the Program on Plastics, Ecosystems, and Public Health at Northwestern University's Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy, Evanston, IL, March 28, 2024.
Impact/Purpose:
This work also provides the scientific community with information on the adverse effects of nanoplastic particles on eukaryotic and microbial communities that contribute to ecosystem maintenance and biogeochemical cycles. Additionally, this information is valuable to the public because it demonstrates that plastic particles may directly interact with microbes in the environment. This presentation also showcases the research needs in quantifying and characterizing micro and nanoplastic particles to support ecological effects research.
Description:
Plastic particles are now found ubiquitously in the environment. As the abundance of plastic increases in marine systems, the magnitude of adverse biological and ecological effects of plastics of various size classes (macro-, micro-, nano-) need to be evaluated for potential risks. Marine sediments act as a sink for many contaminants, including microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs), and are rich habitats for benthic invertebrate and microbial communities which are fundamental to the health of marine food webs. However, there are many technical challenges in measuring MPs and NPs in environmental samples. I will present our methods for extracting, identifying, and quantifying MPs, as well as address the limitations that still exist in measuring plastic particles in environmental samples. NPs are of growing concern because they may be able to pass through biological membranes more effectively than larger microscale particles and enter marine systems primarily through fragmentation of larger plastics present in the environment. However, less is known about the effects of nanoplastics on community diversity and ecosystem structure. Identifying benthic organisms is a time-consuming process, but molecular methods, such as metabarcoding, utilize high-throughput sequencing to assess community diversity and structure from environmental DNA and RNA and are quicker than conventional methods. I will discuss the utility of environmental RNA metabarcoding for understanding the impacts of NPs on benthic invertebrate communities.