pELAstic: a whole-ecosystem experiment to understand the fate and effects of microplastics

pELASTIC：一项了解微塑料的命运和影响的全生态系统实验

• 批准号: 558439-2020
• 负责人: Rochman, Chelsea
• 金额: $ 18.18万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=721497
• 关键词: pELAstic; whole; ecosystem; experiment; understand

Microplastics (MPs) are globally ubiquitous, yet our understanding of their environmental fate and effects is mostly limited to theoretical models and laboratory experiments. Our proposed project, which to the best of our knowledge would be the first of its kind, is to experimentally manipulate an entire lake, testing the impacts of microplastics at the ecosystem scale. This experiment can only be carried out at the world-renowned International Institute for Sustainable Development's Experimental Lakes Area (IISD-ELA), which has provincial and federal legislation permitting whole-lake experimentation. IISD-ELA enables real-world projects that provide a critical missing step from theoretical, lab, and tank studies to natural ecosystems. Guided by smaller-scale experiments already funded and planned by our team, the research objectives for this environmentally relevant project are to determine 1) the physical, chemical, and biological fate of MPs in lakes and their watersheds; 2) how MPs impact aquatic ecosystems across all levels of biological organization; 3) how ecosystem processes and functions, such as nutrient cycling and photosynthesis, are affected by MPs; and 4) the recovery of an ecosystem exposed to MPs, including how MPs break-down and/or transform over time. Rooted in the program objectives, the expected outcomes of our proposed research are to increase research capacity on MPs through the training of diverse HQP, close knowledge gaps in our scientific understanding of the fate and effects of MPs in aquatic ecosystems, develop new tools and protocols for the sampling and characterization of MPs and their impacts (aimed at addressing the global need for standardization/harmonization of methods to inform monitoring), and generate knowledge to inform risk assessments and policies in Canada and beyond.

微塑料（MP）在全球范围内无处不在，但我们对它们的环境命运和影响的理解主要限于理论模型和实验室实验。据我们所知，我们提出的项目将是同类项目中的第一个，是实验性地操纵整个湖泊，测试微塑料在生态系统规模上的影响。这项实验只能在世界著名的国际可持续发展研究所的实验湖区进行，该湖区有允许全湖实验的省和联邦立法。IISD-ELA使现实世界的项目，提供了从理论，实验室和坦克研究到自然生态系统的关键缺失步骤。在我们团队已经资助和计划的小规模实验的指导下，这个与环境相关的项目的研究目标是确定1）湖泊及其流域中MP的物理，化学和生物命运; 2）MP如何影响各级生物组织的水生生态系统; 3）生态系统过程和功能，如营养循环和光合作用，如何受到MP的影响。以及4）暴露于MP的生态系统的恢复，包括MP如何随着时间的推移而分解和/或转变。植根于计划目标，我们提出的研究的预期成果是通过培训不同的HQP来提高对MP的研究能力，缩小我们对MP在水生生态系统中的命运和影响的科学理解的知识差距，开发新的工具和协议，用于对MP及其影响进行采样和定性（旨在满足全球对监测方法标准化/统一的需求），并产生知识，为加拿大和其他国家的风险评估和政策提供信息。