Team > M.Sc. Sonya Moses

Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences
Chair Animal Ecology I

PhD candidate

PhD project: Plastic in the Weser (PLAWES) | From the headwaters to the North Sea - microplastics and their ecological impacts in the Weser

Microplastic (MP, plastic < 5 mm) is an anthropogenic contaminant that is found in all ecosystems. Even remote areas such as the Arctic and mountain lakes are not spared. As rivers are a major transport pathway for MPs in the environment - especially between terrestrial and marine systems, my project focuses on the MP contamination of rivers, based on the example of the model system Weser.

In my research, I analyse the MP contamination of the entire catchment area of the river Weser. My focus lies on the quantification of the MP contamination but also and the investigation of the seasonal variations of MPs in the river. This is especially relevant to gain a better understanding of transport mechanisms as rivers are highly dynamic systems. Thus, the water surface of the river Weser and its effluents was sampled with a high spatial and temporal resolution.

Furthermore, the acute and long-term ecotoxicological effects MP on the benthic freshwater model organism Lumbriculus variegatus are investigated. Due to its unselective feeding behaviour an ingestion of MP is expected. During feeding experiments effects on mortality, motility, colour and biomass will be analysed. Furthermore, toxicity is assumed to be dependent on the gut retention time. Thus, the influence of different MP shapes will be investigated.

The data generated during this project is supposed to gain a better understanding on the environmental behaviour of MPs in rivers and their ecotoxicological effects on benthic organisms.

Funded by:

Federal Ministry of Education and Research | FONA Initiative Plastics in the Environment | Funding reference: 03F0789A

Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences
Chair Animal Ecology I

Master in Chemistry

PhD Student Animal Ecology | Supervisor Prof. Dr. Christian Laforsch

PhD project: Plastic in the Weser (PLAWES): From the headwaters to the North Sea - microplastics and their ecological impacts in the river Weser

Research interests: Microplastics, environmental analytics

Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences
Chair Animal Ecology I

Publications

2022

Sarmite Kernchen, Martin G. J. Löder, Franziska Fischer, Dieter Fischer, Sonya Moses, Christoph Georgi, Anke Nölscher, Andreas Held, Christian Laforsch: Airborne microplastic concentrations and deposition across the Weser River catchment. In: Science of the Total Environment, 818 (2022). - .
doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151812

Isabella Schrank, Martin G. J. Löder, Hannes Imhof, Sonya Moses, Maren Heß, Julia Schwaiger, Christian Laforsch: Riverine microplastic contamination in southwest Germany : A large-scale survey. In: Frontiers in Earth Science, 10 (2022). - .
doi:10.3389/feart.2022.794250

Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences
Chair Animal Ecology I

M.Sc. Sonya Moses
PhD candidate

E-mail: sonya.moses@uni-bayreuth.de
ResearchGate: Sonya Moses