WWU Research Intern - Investigating Particle Composition and Aquatic Chemistry Impacts on Microplastic Aggregation Behavior Through the Use of Nanopolymer-Nanoparticle Composites

Understanding how microplastics act in environmental systems is of growing interest in the environmental toxicology field. Given the number of consumer and industrial grade plastic pollution, along with unknowns regarding their ability to sorb to other contaminants, it is key to understand how these microplastics behave in the environment. Microplastic pollution has the ability to not only negatively impact environmental health, but human health as well. Emerging results on microplastic trophic transfer alludes to the possibility that these plastics could trophic transfer (Athey et al., 2020). For example, when organisms are exposed to microplastics, along with the other contaminants sorb to the plastic, it can cause physical blockages and toxicity to the organism. If a human consumes that organism contaminated by microplastics, the evidence of organismal trophic transfer suggests a possible human exposure. An aspect that is important to understand in order to establish protective regulations is microplastic transport behavior. Various factors influence the transport of microplastics. Some examples include microplastic size, aquatic chemistry, biological influences, and mineralogy presence (Rauschendorfer, 2021)