Research Symposium

BIO

I am a Biological Science major from Tampa, FL. I am primarily interested in Biomedical Sciences, Cellular Biology, and Marine Biology. I plan to continue exploring my research interests throughout my Undergraduate career. In the future, I aspire to earn my PhD in clinical research with a focus on Virology or Oncology. Additionally, I hope to conduct research on coastal ecosystems and organisms living within them.

Size Variability of Microplastics Pollution in St. Andrews Bay, Florida​

Abstract

This research project explored the relationship between the study sites’ proximity to wastewater treatment plants, and the spatial variability of the microplastic pollution found in the St. Andrews Bay system. This research is critical because the amount of microplastics present in our oceans is on the rise. Wastewater treatment plants are major import pathways of microplastics to the ocean, and microplastic research in the literature focuses on pollution within the water column, even though MPs will end up in the sediment due to biofouling. It is difficult to quantify the amount of microplastics in the ecosystem because due to their varying densities they may either remain suspended in the water column or sink to the seafloor, where they mix with the sediment. The samples of the microplastics collected were from five different sites: two of which receive inputs from wastewater treatment plants, and three with no direct contamination. The microplastic samples were visually identified for color and particle type and imaged under stereomicroscopy. Microplastic dimensions were measured in triplicate using ImageJ and then averaged and the size of each sample (s) was measured with the length (l) being represented as the longest dimension and the width (w) as the shorter dimension: s= √lxw. The results suggested that there is no significant correlation between the direct contact with wastewater treatment plants and the spatial variability of the microplastic pollution found in St. Andrews Bay.

Keywords: microplastic pollution, size variability,