Lead: Ricardo Beiras

Universidade de Vigo

About

Work Package 4 encompasses a range of laboratory studies specifically oriented to characterize chronic and long-term effects at organism level under ecologically relevant exposures to leachates of field-collected plastics and biodegradable polymeric material, and to explore the onset of ecotoxicological responses caused by nanoplastics. WP4 will provide further insight into biological pathways and mechanisms of action underlying the adverse effects of microplastics and nanoplastics at organism level, through chemical characterization of leachates and effect-directed analyses (EDA), and will assign specific thresholds and weights to individual bioassays and to define standardized batteries of ecotoxicological tests that are geographically relevant and useful for quantification of hazard quotients (HQs) and integration into the Weight-of-Evidence (WOE) framework.

Key Tasks

• Tested materials and leachates

• Bioassays on early life-stages

• Physiological and behavioral bioassays

• Life-cycle of microalgae / invertebrates

• Chemistry and EDA of plastic leachates

• Weighted elaboration of bioassays data