http://barcelona.setac.eu/scientific_programme/tracks_and_sessions/?contentid=854&pr_id=766&last=773&sub=854

Tracks and sessions

B - Aquatic and terrestrial ecotoxicology

Plastics in the Aquatic Environment: Mechanisms and Implications.

CHAIRS: Albert Aart Koelmans, Ellen Besseling, Won Joon Shim

Pollution with plastic litter is one of today?s major water quality
problems. The presence of microplastics in fresh and salt waters
receives growing interest from the scientific community, the public and
policy makers. Research initially focused on abundance and distribution
of plastic in the environment, entanglement and ingestion by aquatic
organisms, and development of methods to detect and characterize
(micro-)plastics. Science in this field however, is rapidly evolving and
the past few years more mechanistic studies have been published aiming
at acquiring a real understanding of sources, fate and effects of
plastic particles of all relevant size classes. This may include the
role of land-based sources and riverine transport, mechanisms of plastic
particle formation and degradation, accumulation and losses of plastics
in the oceans, the role of plastics as vectors of co-contaminants,
mechanisms of effect and effect thresholds. Formation of micrometer- or
nano-sized plastic particles may constitute an unforeseen hazard to
aquatic life but information still is limited. The session aims at
discussing two main questions: ?What are the mechanisms behind what we
see in the laboratory and in the field?? and ?What are the consequences
of these mechanisms for environmental exposure, effects and risks,
including human consumption?. We specifically invite contributions that
either provide innovative methodologies of general importance, or that
provide a novel mechanistic understanding of sources, fate and/or
effects of plastics in the aquatic environment.

PRELIM SESSION TYPE: Platform and Poster