Behaviour of microplastics in the running water/hyporheic zone system (B03)

• Subject Area: Hydrogeology, Hydrology, Limnology, Urban Water Management, Water Chemistry, Integrated Water Resources Management
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 391977956

In the 2nd funding period the B03 will investigate within the CRC 1357 the impact of more natural, transient flow regimes on the transport and retention of microplastic (MP) in streams. This includes research on sedimentation an erosion of different MP-particles (pristine and aged) in interaction with moving bedforms. We will test, under which conditions streambed sediments act as either source or sink for MP. Furthermore, the transfer of streamborne MP into the riparian zone during flood events (interface between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems) at a key field site as well as the impacts of interactions between MP and the model organism Dreissena bugensis on MP-transport will be investigated.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1357: MICROPLASTICS - Understanding the mechanisms and processes of biological effects, transport and formation: From model to complex systems as a basis for new solutions
• Applicant Institution: Universität Bayreuth
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Jan Fleckenstein; Dr. Sven Frei; Benjamin Silas Gilfedder, Ph.D., until 12/2022