A year ago, the magazine Science published Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean, a study prepared by researchers from North American universities, which revealed that in 2010, an average of eight million tons of plastic had been dumped into the sea from 192 countries with a coast. If all this garbage were placed along the Earth’s coasts, there would be, according to the authors of the study, five shopping bags full of plastic every 30 centimeters. The scale of this problem, although enormous, is even more complicated when you consider microplastics, particles less than 5 mm in size, whose effects on marine organisms are still very poorly studied. With the aim of quantitatively and scientifically assessing the risks and consequences that microplastics have on a range of marine organisms, from zooplankton to mussels, clams and sea bass, around thirty researchers from a dozen European countries will participate in the Ephemare project for three years. Coordinated by Ricardo Beiras, professor of the Ecotoxicology and Marine Pollution Group, Ecotox, of the University of Vigo, the project with a cost of 3 million euros will last for three years, and is one of the four European initiatives approved by the Joint Programming Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans, JPI-Oceans, a strategic platform open to all EU members and associated countries that invest in marine and maritime research. Along with Spain, represented by the universities of Vigo and Murcia and the Murcian Oceanographic Center, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Ireland and the United Kingdom, complete the list of countries with institutions involved in this European project.
“This work will allow us, on the one hand, to advise administrations to legislate on plastics, given that at the moment there are no regulations on the matter. But it will also be possible to advise the plastics industry, a material in which polymers are not the main problem, but the chemical substances that are used to, for example, give it color or flexibility, which are toxic in many cases”, explains Ricardo Beiras, coordinator of the Ephemare project, who had the collaboration of Campus do Mar in the preparation tasks of this initiative.
Effects of microplastics from bacteria to fish
Plastics are substances that do not degrade and in order to disappear, they fragment into increasingly smaller pieces, which can easily pass into the food chain. In addition to the toxic additives that are added to the plastic, these materials absorb the pollutants that already exist in the water, transporting them to animals. To evaluate the effects of these substances on marine organisms, the researchers participating in the Ephemare project chose four models: cell lines, small filter feeders (zooplankton), large filter feeders (bivalves such as mussels or clams) and predators (fish such as sea bass). “In one model we will work with microplastics of less than five microns, in another we will apply materials between five and 15 microns, in model three between 15 and 40 and in model four between 125 and 500 microns”, explains Ricardo Beiras, who points out that each scientist will focus on the area of their specialty. Thus, one line of work will study how plastic manages to concentrate the pollutants present in the sea; a second one focuses on observing how organisms ingest microplastics; another will deal with the effects of the material on organisms, that is: whether it can cause death, stop growing, make breathing difficult… and a fourth will be responsible for observing the effects at the molecular level.
The study will also analyze trophic transfer, given that, as Ricardo Beiras explains, “a large organism that eats a small one that has ingested a microplastic ends up being contaminated.” Ephemare will be completed with fieldwork, which will be carried out in four areas of the European coast, specifically in Italy, Portugal, Norway and Belgium. After the project launch meeting held at the end of January in Murcia, the second follow-up meeting will take place in Germany in mid-2017.
From Impacta to Ephemare
Ephemare is not the first experience of Ecotox, a member of the Strategic Grouping Oceanography-Ecimat (Oceano-Ecimat) in studying the effects of microplastics. Researchers from the University of Vigo, together with others from A Coruña and the Vigo and Murcia centers of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, are working on the Impacta project with the aim of characterizing the distribution of regulated and emerging pollutants, as well as microplastics in coastal sediments of the Vigo estuary and the Mar Menor and the shelf of the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts.
Funded through ERDF funds with 482,790 euros, the results of the project will contribute to defining which groups of pollutants and associated biomarkers can be included in future European monitoring programs, as well as evaluating the role of microplastics in the dispersion and transfer of pollutants in the marine environment. To this end, Impacta will determine the biological effects that pollutants can cause, for which sensitive and selective analytical methods will be developed and validated that can be easily implemented in marine monitoring programs.
A year ago, Science magazine published Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean, a study carried out by researchers from North American universities, which revealed that in 2010 an average of eight million tons of plastic had been dumped into the sea from 192 countries with a coast. If all this garbage were placed along the Earth’s coasts, there would be, according to the authors of the study, five shopping bags full of plastic every 30 centimeters. The scale of this problem, although enormous, is further complicated when you consider microplastics, particles of less than 5 mm, whose effects on marine organisms are still very little studied. With the aim of quantitatively and scientifically assessing the risks and consequences that microplastics have on a range of marine organisms, from zooplankton to mussels, clams and sea bass, around thirty researchers from a dozen European countries will participate in the Ephemare project for three years. Coordinated by Ricardo Beiras, professor of the Ecotoxicology and Marine Pollution Group, Ecotox, of the University of Vigo, the project has a cost of 3 million euros and will last for three years, and is one of the four European initiatives approved by the Joint Programming Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans, JPI-Oceans, a strategic platform open to all EU members and associated countries that invests in marine and maritime research. Along with Spain, represented by the universities of Vigo and Murcia and the Murcian Oceanographic Center, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Ireland and the United Kingdom, complete the list of countries with institutions involved in this European project.
“Este traballo permitiranos, por unha banda, asesorar ás administracións para lexislar sobre plásticos, dado que neste momento non existen normativas ao respecto. Pero ademais será posible asesorar á industria do plástico, un material no que os polímeros non son o principal problema, senón as substancias químicas que se empregan para, por exemplo darlle cor ou flexibilidade, tóxicas en moitos casos”, explica Ricardo Beiras, coordinador do proxecto Ephemare, que contou coa colaboración de Campus do Mar nas tarefas de preparación desta iniciativa.
Effects of microplastics from bacteria to fish
Plastics are substances that do not degrade and in order to disappear, they fragment into increasingly smaller pieces, which can easily pass into the food chain. In addition to the toxic additives that are added to the plastic, these materials absorb the pollutants that already exist in the water, transporting them to animals. To evaluate the effects of these substances on marine organisms, the researchers participating in the Ephemare project chose four models: cell lines, small filter feeders (zooplankton), large filter feeders (bivalves such as mussels or clams) and predators (fish such as sea bass). “In one model we will work with microplastics of less than five microns, in another we will apply materials between five and 15 microns, in model three between 15 and 40 and in model four between 125 and 500 microns”, explains Ricardo Beiras, who points out that each scientist will focus on the area of their specialty. Thus, one line of work will study how plastic manages to concentrate the pollutants present in the sea; a second one focuses on observing how organisms ingest microplastics; another will deal with the effects of the material on organisms, that is: whether it can cause death, if it stops growing, if it makes breathing difficult… and a fourth one will be responsible for observing the effects at the molecular level.
The study will also analyze trophic transfer, given that, as Ricardo Beiras explains, “a large organism that eats a small one that has ingested a microplastic ends up being contaminated.” Ephemare will be completed with fieldwork, which will be carried out in four areas of the European coast, specifically in Italy, Portugal, Norway and Belgium. After the project launch meeting held at the end of January in Murcia, the second follow-up meeting will take place in Germany in mid-2017.
From Impacta to Ephemare
Ephemare is not the first experience of Ecotox, a member of the Strategic Grouping Oceanography-Ecimat (Oceano-Ecimat) in studying the effects of microplastics. Researchers from the University of Vigo, together with others from A Coruña and the Vigo and Murcia centers of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, are working on the Impacta project with the aim of characterizing the distribution of regulated and emerging pollutants, as well as microplastics in coastal sediments of the Vigo estuary and the Mar Menor and the shelf of the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts.
Funded through ERDF funds with 482,790 euros, the results of the project will contribute to defining which groups of pollutants and associated biomarkers can be included in future European monitoring programs, as well as evaluating the role of microplastics in the dispersion and transfer of pollutants in the marine environment. To this end, Impacta will determine the biological effects that pollutants can cause, for which sensitive and selective analytical methods will be developed and validated that can be easily implemented in marine monitoring programs.
Fonte: duvi.
