Field Activities Begin!
This September, the first of our RESPONSE microplastic field activities began along the Conero
Coast (Adriatic basin) and involved a collaborative effort from our research partners at Polytechnic University of Marche (UNIVPM) and National Research Council Institute for the Study of Anthropic Impacts and Sustainability in the Marine Environment (CNR-IAS). This marks the beginning of a year long programme of water, sediment, and biota sampling designed to monitor the presence and abundance of microplastics and microfibers.
Beach cleaning activities will also be undertaken as part of this sampling programme for collection, classification, and characterization of stranded macroplastics which will;
provide data for oceanographic models;
provide materials for micronization processes for field-derived microplastics;
and provide chemical characterization of leachates of field-collected plastics.
You can see some of the pictures of these field activities from UNIVPM below!
