Ecotoxicology

In PLAWES, the modelling system of the German national park Weser-Wadden Sea is the first large European river basin that is investigated in detail regarding its microplastic pollution to.

The spread of microplastics in rivers shows that along a given waterway there are sources as well as sinks. Thus, dams and reservoirs constitute important but until now hardly investigated parts of a water system that serve as examples for risk vs. usefulness of sedimentation of microplastics.

The methods currently available for the analysis of microplastics in environmental matrices are primarily designed for particles in the size range of 1 μm to 5 mm. Smaller particles below 1 μm have hardly been detected so far. However in contrast to larger particles, these are able to enter cells and have a higher potential for adsorption of pollutants due to their relatively larger surface.

The common element of all investigations in PLASTRAT is the development of solution strategies for sustainable limitation of the spread of plastic residues in the aquatic environment on technical, environmental, scientific and social-ecological levels. The objective consists of developing a multi-criteria evaluation approach for the environmental compatibility of different types of plastics.