During the five days of the MICRO 2020, the scientific community and stakeholders came together predominantly virtually to exchange ideas and information on the topic "Fate and impacts of microplastics: knowledge and responsibilities". Only a few delegates met up in Spain physically. The main topics tackled in the numerous sessions included marine eco systems, freshwater bodies, social changes and behaviors, human health and policy. The topic of one of the sessions is covered in detail elsewhere in this newsletter, namely the synthesis paper on the cross-sectional topic of "Modeling" of the BMBF research program "Plastic in the Environment". Dr. Elke Brandes from the Thünen Institute in Brunswick moderated the session, in which, among others, Stephanie Cieplik from the BKV presented a paper on the "From Land to Sea" model, which documents land-sourced plastic litter.
All the papers presented at the international conference should be available from the beginning of January on the MICRO 2020 website. Until now, only the abstracts can be viewed at https://www.micro.infini.fr/.
Sources:
- www.micro.infini.fr
- BKV
- bmbf-plastik.de
- Photo:© Universität Basel / Thomas Mani