“I want to say one word to you. Just one word.”

“Plastics.”

“There’s a great future in plastics. Think about it”

The Graduate, 1967

Melissa Duhaime (PI), Ecol Evol Biology Dima Beletsky (Co-I), CILER/SNRE Krista Wigginton (Co-I), Civil Envir Eng Lorena Rios-Mendoza, UW Superior Zhan Chen, Chemistry Raisa Beletsky, CILER/SNRE Larissa Sano, CILER/SNRE Jen Daley, CILER/SNRE Allen Burton, CILER/SNRE

Microplastics in the Great Lakes Towards an ecosystem-level understanding

Note: - Most appears “secondary”

microplastic

- Coastal/estuarine hotspots at urban centers

- Storm events deliver plastic (CSO event, Cleveland) *

Residence time (mths) per source. Daily releases, surface drift

Raisa Beletsky, Dima Beletsky

extremely buoyant particles (surface drift) June only

3D drift surf

Note: - E-W gradient in residence

time

- Most surface plastic flushed in 2 years

- But some exceeds hydraulic residence time (3D model)

Chen Lab

Wigginton Lab

Duhaime Lab

St Clair, Detroit River plume, Cleveland WWTP PAHs: 3500-17,000 ng/g PCBs: 4-99 ng/g

Rios Mendoza Lab

Western Basin Erie Non-target emerging contaminants

(pesticides, herbicides, etc.)

Note: - Plastic surface

irreversibly changed after water contact

- Toxin adsorption (rate, permanency, ordering) depends on humidity

Basin/ Non-urban

Urban

Which microbes drive this

dichotomy?

Microbial community similarity (Bray) Microbial community similarity (Bray)

15% n=20 20%

n=5

26% n=100

33% n=40

100% fibers 0% microbeads

December 2015

Thank you

Nancy K

David Brooks, captain Nancy K

LOGISTICS

Steve Ruberg, Dennis Donahue, crew of R5501, NOAA

RESEARCH TEAM Duhaime Lab Rachel Cable Cody Sheik Greg Boehm Kat Wiles Melissa Freeland * Vinnie Gupta * Lauren Eaton (SNRE) Caitlin Barista Artista Emma Borjigin-Wang * Shubhum Sidhar * Naomi Huntley *

Burton Lab Larissa Sano David Wells Jen Daley

Chen Lab Jeanne Hankett

Dima Beletsky Raisa Beletsky Lorena Mendoza Rios, UW Superior

Wigginton Lab

Project Manager: Manja Holland