Ker-plunk!






Microplastic incubations have (mostly) been deployed! 

First obstacle: the weather

Second obstacle: unreliable weather forecasts

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To sample by the sea

Image
  Our journey through Bocas thus far has had its hiccups and obstacles, but every day we get up (granted, at like 2pm) and do the work that we're so passionate for. The fortune of swimming for samples :) Bianca Cruz acquiring water samples for roller tank experiments Microplastic incubations for DNA analysis (is it just me, or are the heavens shining down upon my research?) Microplastic incubations for chemical analysis  Arrowhead crab IN MY INCUBATIONS >:( Arrowhead crabs being adorable Many sponge and cute fish :) This urchin was the size of a basketball I swear! Fire corals. They hurt. Sponges and anemones!
Read more

Microplastics = Macroproblem

Image
Two classifications of microplastics exist: primary microplastics are intentionally manufactured to be micro-sized and are a direct result of human material and product use, the best example being the microbeads found in toothpaste and facial scrubs, and secondary microplastics are plastic fragments derived from the breakdown of larger plastic debris. This could be a fragment from a water bottle or a fiber from your shirt.  As mentioned previously, media and research tend to be focused on larger plastic items. It's no secret that our mega fauna suffer greatly due to our consumerism with entanglement, ingestion, or suffocation as a result of our need for convenience.  In contrast, microplastics do not appear nearly as menacing, being all micro-sized and innocent looking... but it must be considered that these particles are available to a much wider range of species from fish, to birds, to plankton, and to you; a good Samaritan that didn't ask for this!  Plastic i...
Read more