Are microplastics ending up in Atlantic lobster? This researcher hopes to find out
An assistant professor in Nova Scotia has been awarded a five-year grant to study the double impact of microplastics and climate change on aquatic organisms.
Jordan Park will conduct the research at Université Sainte-Anne using lobster larvae and zooplankton. Park hopes to trace whether microplastics end up in lobster found in Atlantic waters.
The grant for his research is through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Microplastics are tiny bits of plastic, many smaller than the diameter of a strand of hair. But they don't start out that small, said Park — plastic wares like food packages end up in the ocean and get broken down over time.
'Through the weathering effect, they get degraded into smaller pieces which makes them microplastics, or even further down into nanoplastics,' says Park. (Janice Brahney)
"Through the weathering effect, they get degraded into smaller pieces, which makes them microplastics, or even further down into nanoplastics," Park told CBC P.E.I.'s Island Morning.
"Since they're so small, they're easily being ingested with… other food sources or aquatic organisms."
These microplastics can then make their way through the food chain.
"Other... bigger organisms will eat the smaller organisms which already have ingested these microplastics," he said. "That will cause the biomagnification of microplastics within that organism."
That means an organism like a lobster might directly ingest microplastics, or it might ingest them indirectly by eating something like a zooplankton with microplastics in its system.
That's why Park's research will compare both scenarios by exposing lobster larvae to microplastics directly, in addition to exposing the larvae to zooplankton that have had exposure to microplastics.
Identifying exposure
There are certain biomarkers that indicate whether organisms have ingested microplastics, Park said, like the plastics' presence in the gastrointestinal tract.
Park says the zooplankton he works with are smaller than two centimetres and can ingest nanoplastics smaller than 50 nanometres. (Mukul Sharma)
"Once the GI tract gets obstructed by these accumulated nanoplastics or microplastics, I'm pretty sure they will cause this imbalance of the microbiome within it," he said.
"That will contribute to the changes in their quality… such as immune system and other stress-related proteins."
The climate change connection
Park said he's been talking to many fishermen who have noticed differences in the number of lobsters they catch every year.
Microplastics are visible under the carapace of this lobster larvae. (Madelyn Woods/Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences)
But his research isn't focused on the accumulation of microplastics in the lobsters, rather the effects of organisms being exposed to pollutants like microplastics while also being exposed to climate change.
The kind of research he's doing will allow him to assess various factors in a controlled environment.
"In the real environment situation, [lobsters are] not only exposed to one factor," he said.
"That is why I'm factoring in the climate change, temperature, pH in salinity, plus the pollutants such as microplastics."
