Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Professor Sherri Mason and Department of Biology faculty member Dr. Courtney Wigdahl-Perry received a multiyear New York Sea Grant award for plastic pollution research in Lake Erie. A subcontract for collaborative research has been awarded to Dr. Joseph Gardella from the University at Buffalo.
The New York Sea Grant award is twofold and will be used to conduct a feeding study using plankton extracted from the lake and to conduct a degradation study. The research grant will run from May 1 through April 30, 2018, and will be funded incrementally for a total award of $186,907.
Dr. Mason and her research group have focused on plastic pollution in freshwater ecosystems. In recent research endeavors, Dr. Mason discovered there are plastic particles in all five of the Great Lakes. The count obtained from Lake Erie and Ontario are comparable to the world’s oceans. Roughly 70 percent of the samples skimmed off the surface of the water are between one third and one milliliter in diameter, extremely small. These plastic particles have been found in the Lake Erie fish.
Mason will be working in collaboration with Dr. Wigdahl-Perry, whose research focuses on organisms that live in lakes. Specifically plankton ecology, lake response to climate change, and the influence of lake characteristics in shaping food web interactions. During their two-year research study, they will be using plankton taken from the lake to determine how they are affected by plastic ingestion.
The feeding studies will take place on Fredonia campus led by both professors. They will be accompanied by a master’s level student and an undergraduate throughout the research process.
The degradation study will be performed by Dr. Gardella and a graduate student at the University at Buffalo. The purpose of this part of the study is to understand how plastic degrades in freshwater and what types of chemicals are released in the process.
The team hopes to discover how the plastic is ending up in the fish, whether it is being consumed directly, or through the plankton they eat. In addition to what the impact will be.
