Plastic pollution on the Great Lakes can take many forms. Larger discarded plastics like bags, bottles, and packing materials eventually break down into tiny pieces or fragments. These “microplastics” are found alongside small fibers from synthetic clothing and microbeads from personal care products.
Another type of microplastic comes directly from plastic manufacturing: pre-production pellets or “nurdles” that are used to create most plastic products. The pellets are often accidentally dumped into the environment in large quantities during transport, after which they can release or “leach” chemicals into the water.
Dr. Christopher Ward, assistant professor of microbiome ecology at Bowling Green State University
The capacity for these chemicals to impact ecosystems in the Great Lakes is the subject of a newly funded Ohio Sea Grant research. Led by Dr. Christopher Ward, assistant professor of microbiome ecology at Bowling Green State University, the project will study the toxic effects of plastic leachates on several levels of the food chain in Lake Erie.
“Our waters are a crucial drinking water source, a highly productive fishery, and home of diverse wildlife,” Ward said. “We need to know how plastic pollution may endanger our freshwater resources.”