Microplastics...What are they?

The blue fiber in this image through the dissecting scope in my lab is a microfiber, probably sourced from a blue fleece jacket or sweater.

For the first installation of the blog, I thought it might make sense if I gave a brief overview of microplastics. Microplastics are plastic particles smaller than 5 mm in diameter or length, and are found in all environments including the air. Microplastics can be separated into two categories, based on their source: primary microplastics are manufactured for and included in products like personal hygiene items, sunscreen, and textiles; secondary microplastics come from the breakdown of macroplastics--plastic bags, bottles, and straws--in the environment due to abiotic factors.

​Microplastics are not as present in the news as macroplastics are; few sources talk about the effects of microplastics, and instead run stories on how straws and plastic soda rings are killing wildlife. Although macroplastics have a major effect on the life history of megafauna, microplastics can affect all size classes of organisms. Small meiofauna may ingest microplastics and microplastics then biomagnify throughout the food web. Current microplastics research is focused on the ingestion and biomagnification of particles and how that affects life history of animals, especially in marine ecosystems.

However, there aren't works on how microplastics may affect the small organisms that make up the bottom of the food webs, nor are there works on how microplastics may affect ocean biogeochemistry. The focus of my work is to assess how microplastics affect nematodes, and how this interaction modifies nutrient cycling in coastal ocean sediments in the Gulf of Mexico.

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