The ‘Deep SEE’ research project aims to examine microplastic accumulation in the water column of the Maltese nearshore waters. These are plastic fragments, smaller than 5mm, that originate from waste released into the environment or degraded within the marine environment. The definition of microplastics, which encompasses a wide range of synthetic material types, shapes, colours and sizes, is not yet entirely straightforward. The inability to compare studies arises from the absence of international standards and regulatory constraints.
A Manta net is a small, easily manageable net designed to sample microplastics located in the first few centimetres of the water column. However, the researchers adapted the methodology that is normally followed to be able to collect samples from different depths. The team managed to carry out horizontal towing while keeping the Manta net steady at depths of 6m and 10m.
Samples from the surface were also collected as reference. The study was carried out at two different sites: one that is impacted by the sewage outfall at Xgħajra located off the southeastern coast of Malta, and a control site at the Selmun area located off the northeastern coast of Malta.
The collected samples were sent to Eurofins Analytical Services Hungary Ltd for analysis and the results of the samples show interesting trends. The majority of the polymers were typically between 50 and 350 μm. The most abundant polymers recorded were found to be Acrylic (42.9%), PE-Polyethylene (17.3%), PP-Polypropylene (15.7%), and PS-Polystyrene (10.5%).
The results raise concerns as the researchers discovered five to 14 times greater amounts of microplastics among certain polymers than they did in the surface pollution
However, the results raise concerns as the researchers discovered five to 14 times greater amounts of microplastics among certain polymers than they did in the surface pollution. There may be an equilibrium between the size and density of some polymers and the associated environmental conditions, such as salinity and buoyancy, this is raising the point of the need for greater understanding of the nature and behaviour of microplastics in the environment.
Prof. Alan Deidun, Dr Adam Gauci, and Ede Kossari Tarnik from the University of Malta’s Oceanography Malta Research Group, Andrew Schembri and Arkadiusz Srebnik from Żibel, an environmental non-profit organisation, and Dr Gábor Bordós and Bence Prikler from Eurofins Analytical Services Hungary Ltd collaborated in order to make this research project possible.
The research has been part-supported by the Elisabeth Mann Borgese Bursary of the International Ocean Institute, which has been awarded to Ede Kossari Tarnik for 2022-23, further Supported by DUTCH.
An innovative smartphone app, combining both artificial intelligence and citizen science, developed by the OMRG within the ANDROMEDA project, will be formally launched and tested at an outreach event being organised at the Esplora interactive science centre on May 16. ANDROMEDA is funded by the MCST under a JPI Oceans Joint Action.
Sound Bites
• People who eat diets rich in green leafy vegetables as well as other vegetables, fruits, whole grains, olive oil, beans, nuts and fish may have fewer amyloid plaques and tau tangles in their brain – signs of Alzheimer’s disease – than people who do not consume such diets, according to a new study.
• A new machine-learning system can generate protein designs with certain structural features, and which do not exist in nature. These proteins could be utilised to make materials that have similar mechanical properties to existing materials, like polymers, but which would have a much smaller carbon footprint.
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DID YOU KNOW?
• The last known native speaker of the Atures language ‒ the language of a tribe near the border of Venezuela and Colombia ‒ was a parrot.
• The US military is funding research into a drug that will make the human body able to tolerate extreme cold.
• The oldest city in Egypt was called Crocodilopolis.
• In China there have been multiple reports of people hiring body doubles to serve their jail time.
For more trivia, see: www.um.edu.mt/think and the following Monday at 9pm on Radju Malta 2 https:// www.fb.com/RadioMochaMalta/.