Lisa Emili, associate professor of physical geography and environmental studies at Penn State Altoona abstract: While plastic pollution in the marine environment is widely reported, significant plastic pollution in freshwater environments has only more recently been recognized. Despite the potential for wetlands to act as temporary and long-term reservoirs of microplastics (MP), MP cycling in wetlands, particularly as it relates to wetland soil remains largely understudied. An understanding of the spatial heterogeneity, mobility, and fate of MP in wetlands is needed to determine the potential for contaminant transport and new carbon sequestration. Studying MP cycling in wetlands requires the adaption and synthesis of methods originally developed for the analysis of marine surface waters and surficial sediments. This webinar will provide a discussion of: 1) the field and laboratory methods used to determine MP accumulation in soil, sediment, and water matrices from wetland study sites in Pennsylvania, 2) the extent of MP contamination in each matrix, and 3) the ongoing need to refine and standardize MP methodology.
This webinar is part of the Energy and the Environment Sustainability Laboratories' 2021 Seminar Series