{"id":57076,"date":"2021-08-09T14:43:34","date_gmt":"2021-08-09T18:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/?post_type=r_cas_magazine&#038;p=57076"},"modified":"2021-09-02T14:07:29","modified_gmt":"2021-09-02T18:07:29","slug":"marine-program-microplastics-ocean","status":"publish","type":"r_cas_magazine","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/arts-sciences\/fall-2021\/marine-program-microplastics-ocean\/","title":{"rendered":"Microplastics and Ocean Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On an early summer\u2019s day, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bump\/\">BU Marine Program<\/a> students joined <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/earth\/profiles\/alyssa-novak\/\">Alyssa Novak, a research assistant professor<\/a>, to take sediment cores from an eelgrass bed at Annisquam\u2019s Cambridge Beach in Gloucester, Mass. The core is used to quantify and assess the accumulation of microplastics. The tiny plastics can be harmful to ocean life, like eelgrass, which Novak describes as a foundation species. \u201cIt provides a number of ecological and economic services to coastal environments, including providing habitat and food to a myriad of organisms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Photos by Alex Gagne<\/p>\n<div class=\"bu-slideshow-container microplastics autoplay\" id=\"bu-slideshow-container-57879\" data-slideshow-name=\"microplastics\" data-slideshow-delay=\"5000\" style=\"width: auto; \"><div class='slideshow-loader active'><div class='loader-animation'><\/div><p>loading slideshow...<\/p><\/div><div class=\"bu-slideshow-slides\"><ul class=\"bu-slideshow transition-fade\" id=\"bu-slideshow-57879\"><li id=\"bu-slideshow-57879_0\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-center\"><img src=\"\/cas\/files\/2021\/08\/21-1217-ASMARINE-006-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-center\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Alyssa Novak (far right), a research assistant professor, shows (from left to right) Cece Gerstenbacher (CAS\u201922, GRS\u201922), Ryen Guthrie (CAS\u201922), and intern Mia Filardi a sediment core that has been extracted from an eelgrass bed.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-57879_1\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-center\"><img src=\"\/cas\/files\/2021\/08\/21-1217-ASMARINE-005-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-center\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Gerstenbacher takes a sediment core from an eelgrass bed.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-57879_2\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-center\"><img src=\"\/cas\/files\/2021\/08\/21-1217-ASMARINE-009-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-center\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">\u201cThe core is being used to quantify microplastics and assess accumulation patterns,\u201d says Novak.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-57879_3\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-center\"><img src=\"\/cas\/files\/2021\/09\/21-1217-ASMARINE-019-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-center\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Gerstenbacher and Hannah Ferraro (CAS\u201921) extract sediment from the core and look for the presence of microplastics. \u201cMicroplastics are being found throughout coastal and marine ecosystems and we are documenting where they occur,\u201d says Novak.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><li id=\"bu-slideshow-57879_4\" class=\"slide \"><div class=\"bu-slide-container slide-caption-bottom-center\"><img src=\"\/cas\/files\/2021\/08\/21-1217-ASMARINE-016-copy-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><div class=\"bu-slide-caption caption-bottom-center\"><p class=\"bu-slide-caption-text\">Novak says she and the students have been working on the project since last fall\u2014because everything is outdoors, they were able to carry on despite the pandemic.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"bu-slideshow-navigation-container\"><ul class=\"bu-slideshow-navigation nav-icon\" id=\"bu-slideshow-nav-57879\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-1\" class=\" active\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>1<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-2\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>2<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-3\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>3<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-4\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>4<\/span><\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"#\" id=\"pager-5\" class=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><span>5<\/span><\/a><\/li> <\/ul><\/div><div class=\"bu-slideshow-arrows\" id=\"bu-slideshow-57879_arrows\"><a class=\"bu-slideshow-arrow-left\" href=\"#\"><\/a><a class=\"bu-slideshow-arrow-right\" href=\"#\"><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BU Marine Program students and faculty are studying the impact of tiny plastics on coastal environments<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":57869,"template":"","department":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-articles\/57076"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/r_cas_magazine"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-articles\/57076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57973,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-articles\/57076\/revisions\/57973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"r_cas_department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=57076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}