Microplastics in the Enivronment
The large floating mats of plastics in the world's oceans have captured the horror and imagination of the public; however, recent research highlighting the importance of atmospheric transport has demonstrated that no region is too remote to contain abundant microplastics. For example, it is estimated that each year 8-20 tons of microplastics are deposited from the atmosphere to Grand Canyon National Park and some 1000-4000 tons to western wildlands annually. Many of the latter are more than 100 km from major urban centers and at several sites samplers were above 3000 masl in mountain landscapes.
Microplastics enter the environment largely through the mismanagement of waste, and it's estimated that 12-18% of annual production ends up in our ecosystems. Plastic production has doubled in the last 20 years, mainly due to single-use packaging. Because the infrastructure to manage the volume of plastic waste we create does not exist within the U.S. or other countries, the fraction of plastics entering our environment is expected to increase. Despite the widespread awareness of environmental plastic pollution, we are still at the early stages of understanding just how much plastic is in the environment and what role plastic pollution plays in modifying physical and biological systems. Our research is beginning to show that the environment is so saturated with microplastics that annual pollution sources are often dwarfed by inputs from Earth System process, such as atmospheric transport.
Our lab is interested in understanding how microplastics are transported through the Earth System and how plastics interfere with natural biogeochemical processes. Learn more about our projects from the links below.
Microplastics enter the environment largely through the mismanagement of waste, and it's estimated that 12-18% of annual production ends up in our ecosystems. Plastic production has doubled in the last 20 years, mainly due to single-use packaging. Because the infrastructure to manage the volume of plastic waste we create does not exist within the U.S. or other countries, the fraction of plastics entering our environment is expected to increase. Despite the widespread awareness of environmental plastic pollution, we are still at the early stages of understanding just how much plastic is in the environment and what role plastic pollution plays in modifying physical and biological systems. Our research is beginning to show that the environment is so saturated with microplastics that annual pollution sources are often dwarfed by inputs from Earth System process, such as atmospheric transport.
Our lab is interested in understanding how microplastics are transported through the Earth System and how plastics interfere with natural biogeochemical processes. Learn more about our projects from the links below.
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Microplastics. They are everywhere. Here in the EBPL we are interested in understanding how they get around and how fast they are going.
Our work is helping to piece together the microplastic cycle. |
Publications and Thesis
++Brahney undergraduate/technician researcher, **Brahney graduate researcher
+Undergraduate researcher, *graduate researcher, φpost-doctoral researcher
Gustavus, M. (2023). From Mountain Streams to Urban Rivers: An Assessment of Microplastic Sources and Characteristics (Doctoral dissertation, Utah State University).
Li, Q., Ziao, S., Cui, Y., Brahney, J., Mahowald, N. (2023). Long-distance atmospheric transport of microplastic fibers influenced by their shapes. Nature Geoscience
Wang, J.F., Guo, X., Brahney, J., Xu, Z.W., Hu, Y., Sheng. W.Y., Chen, Y-N., Li, M-Y., Guo, W-H. (2023) Growth of grasses and forbs, nutrient concentration, and microbial activity in soil treated with microbeads. Environmental Pollution
Deonie Allen, Steve Allen, Sajjad Abbasi, Alex Baker, Melanie Bergmann, Janice Brahney, Tim Butler, Robert Duce, Sabine Eckhardt, Nikolaos Evangeliou, Tim Jickells, Maria Kanakidou, Peter Kershaw, Paolo Laj, Joseph Levermore, Daoji Li, Peter Liss, Kai Liu, Natalie Mahowald, Pere Masque, Dušan Materić, Andrew Mayes, Paul McGinnity, Iolanda Osvath, Kimberly Prather, Joseph Prospero, Laura Revell, Sylvia Sander, Won Joon Shim, Jonathan Slade, Ariel Stein, Oksana Tarasova, Stephanie Wright. (2022). The atmospheric cycle of micro and nano plastics in the marine environment. Nature Reviews Earth and Environment
Evangeliou, N., Tichy, O., Eckhardt, S., Zwaaftink, C.G., Brahney, J. (2022) Global emissions, transport and deposition of atmospheric microplastics revealed from Bayesian inverse modelling. Journal of Hazardous Materials
Brahney, J., Mahowald, N., Prank, M., Cornwell, G., Klimont, Z., Matsui, H., & Prather, K. A. (2021). Constraining the atmospheric limb of the plastic cycle. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(16).
Brahney, J. (2021) Microplastics are raining down from the sky. The Science Breaker. https://www.thesciencebreaker.org/
Brahney, J., ++Hallerud, M., ++Heim, E., Hahnenberger, M. Sukumaran, S. (2020) Plastic rain in Protected Areas of the United States. Science 10.1126/science.aaz5819
Brahney, J. (2020) Opinion: You’re probably inhaling microplastics right now. The New York Times Online 06/25/2020, Print 06/26/2020
++Brahney undergraduate/technician researcher, **Brahney graduate researcher
+Undergraduate researcher, *graduate researcher, φpost-doctoral researcher
Gustavus, M. (2023). From Mountain Streams to Urban Rivers: An Assessment of Microplastic Sources and Characteristics (Doctoral dissertation, Utah State University).
Li, Q., Ziao, S., Cui, Y., Brahney, J., Mahowald, N. (2023). Long-distance atmospheric transport of microplastic fibers influenced by their shapes. Nature Geoscience
Wang, J.F., Guo, X., Brahney, J., Xu, Z.W., Hu, Y., Sheng. W.Y., Chen, Y-N., Li, M-Y., Guo, W-H. (2023) Growth of grasses and forbs, nutrient concentration, and microbial activity in soil treated with microbeads. Environmental Pollution
Deonie Allen, Steve Allen, Sajjad Abbasi, Alex Baker, Melanie Bergmann, Janice Brahney, Tim Butler, Robert Duce, Sabine Eckhardt, Nikolaos Evangeliou, Tim Jickells, Maria Kanakidou, Peter Kershaw, Paolo Laj, Joseph Levermore, Daoji Li, Peter Liss, Kai Liu, Natalie Mahowald, Pere Masque, Dušan Materić, Andrew Mayes, Paul McGinnity, Iolanda Osvath, Kimberly Prather, Joseph Prospero, Laura Revell, Sylvia Sander, Won Joon Shim, Jonathan Slade, Ariel Stein, Oksana Tarasova, Stephanie Wright. (2022). The atmospheric cycle of micro and nano plastics in the marine environment. Nature Reviews Earth and Environment
Evangeliou, N., Tichy, O., Eckhardt, S., Zwaaftink, C.G., Brahney, J. (2022) Global emissions, transport and deposition of atmospheric microplastics revealed from Bayesian inverse modelling. Journal of Hazardous Materials
Brahney, J., Mahowald, N., Prank, M., Cornwell, G., Klimont, Z., Matsui, H., & Prather, K. A. (2021). Constraining the atmospheric limb of the plastic cycle. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(16).
Brahney, J. (2021) Microplastics are raining down from the sky. The Science Breaker. https://www.thesciencebreaker.org/
Brahney, J., ++Hallerud, M., ++Heim, E., Hahnenberger, M. Sukumaran, S. (2020) Plastic rain in Protected Areas of the United States. Science 10.1126/science.aaz5819
Brahney, J. (2020) Opinion: You’re probably inhaling microplastics right now. The New York Times Online 06/25/2020, Print 06/26/2020