Understanding How Microplastics Affect Wildlife Health
Organization information
Pure Ocean
Location: Paris, France
Summary
Pure Ocean supports ambitious and innovative research projects in favour of biodiversity and the protection of marine ecosystems.
Purpose of this project: to determine the impact of ingesting microplastics on the organs, tissues, and cells of seabirds in Australia.
More than 1 million seabirds and 100 000 marine animals are estimated to die from plastic pollution each year. Microplastics in particular are a real scourge for marine and terrestrial wildlife: these tiny fragments (< 5mm) penetrate organs, accumulate in tissues and can even enter cells, but it is still unknown how exactly they become lethal. By adopting a unique transdisciplinary approach, the MicroPOW project studies the biological consequences of microplastic exposure, from the cellular level to the whole organism. Shearwaters of Lord Howe Island (Australia) are examined as model-species and compared according to their level of microplastic ingestion, with results applicable to humans.
Pure Ocean is an NGO based in Marseille and Lorient, France. Pure Ocean mobilises civil society, in France and worldwide, in order to support ambitious and innovative projects to protect and restore biodiversity and fragile marine ecosystems.
TGE Partner: Fondation de France
Project locations
Australia