MICRO 2016: Fate and Impact of Microplastics in Marine Ecosystems

Fate and Impact of Microplastics in Marine Ecosystems: From the Coastline to the Open Sea brings together highlights from the conference proceedings for "MICRO 2016: Fate and impact of microplastics in marine ecosystems: From the coastline to the open sea." Building upon previous workshops on microplastics, MICRO 2016 was the first international conference dedicated to this increasingly salient environmental concern. While the presence of microplastics in ecosystems has been reported in the scientific literature since the 1970’s, many pressing questions regarding their impacts remain unresolved. This short format title draws from the shared scientific and technical material and summarizes the current research and future outlook. Includes a range of topics from macro- to microplastics: Weathering and fragmentation processesPresents data from source to sink: Occurrence and distribution of microplastics in freshwater bodies, coastal zones and the open oceanPresents the impacts of microplastics on marine life as well as microplastics as vectors of biological and chemical contaminantsProvides important analysis on the solutions and next steps