From 4 to 18 of october, our team carried out an expedition as part of IMPLAMAC Project. This expedition consisted of sampling microplastic in surface waters, water column and beaches (in La Graciosa, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura islands), along the Canary Islands archipelago, from Alegranza to La Gomera. Also they sampled plankton both in surface and water column.

On 24 September 2021, the MacaroNight 2021 science festival was held. Our colleague Vanesa Romero-Kutzner participated giving a curious talk named “Between jellyfish, homo sapiens and the future” (Entre medusas, Homo sapiens y el futuro).

From 11 to 24 of September, our colleagues Rodrigo Almeda, the coordinator of the studies concerning the impact on plankton, and Alicia Herrera participated in the MANTLE Project. They flew to Sweden, to the Mesocosm Facility at Umeå Marine Sciences Center (MF-UMSC), where both work in the mesocosm experiment to explore how key biological processes influence the distribution and effects of different types of MPs in marine ecosystems (on plankton and benthos communities under environmentally realistic scenarios).

Yesterday, 23 September, the presentation of preliminary results of the IMPLAMAC project took place. The results obtained so far in the four archipelagos of Macaronesia (Canary Islands, Madeira, Azores and Cape Verde), related to the different activities carried out by the project, were presented.

-- Protocols for sampling and quantification of microplastics on beaches

-- Study of the incidence of microplastics in fish.

-- Determination of emerging pollutants in microplastics

-- Dissemination and dissemination activities

Last week, here in ULPGC, from 14 to 18 of june, was held a course named “Introduction to the Microplastic research”, organized by us. During that week,  6 talks and  5 workshops were given.  

TALKS:

On June 10, the ceremony of recognition of the winners of the III Cátedra Telefónica ULPGC Competition took place, where our colleague Alicia Herrera received the first prize in the category Innovation/Research Project.

This well-deserved prize was awarded thanks to her project: Study of the incorporation of marine microplastics to the food webs in the Canary Islands (MICROTROFIC)

We congratulate our colleague!

During the last days in Marseilles, from 11 to 13 March, a meeting took place concerning the project CaponLitter (Capitalising good coastal practices and improving policies to prevent marine litter). This meeting was attended by our collegue Jorge Rapp, talking about the microplastic pollution problem.

In the last week of February, a meeting of the EnviroPlanet (Thematic Newtork of Micro- and Nanoplastics in the Environment) project has took place. In that meeting, it was discussed about the present status of microplastic and marine pollution researches in different scientific areas.

Here is the link to its web page: http://www.enviroplanet.net/

Part of the EnviroPlanet team attending the meeting: