Rodrigo Almeda, “Ramón y Cajal” researcher from the Ecophysiology of marine organisms group (EOMAR) of the ECOAQUA University Institute of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has been a part of the organizing comittee of the annual meeting of the JPI Oceans RESPONSE project, which under the theme "Towards a risk-based assessment of microplastic pollution in marine ecosystems", took place from March 29 to 31 in the city of Ancona (Italy).
RESPONSE, in which 14 European research institutions participate, is a project within the framework of the JPI OCEANS joint activity "Ecological Aspects of Microplastics", one of the most important initiatives at European level for the study of the sources, distribution and impact of microplastics in the marine environment. The overall objective of the project is to assess the distribution, fate and biological effects of plastic particles in marine ecosystems.
Dr. Almeda is co-principal investigator in said project, in which he leads the work package dedicated to the possible ecological impacts of microplastics in the sea. At the meeting in Ancona, Almeda conducted three presentations on the results obtained so far from a collaboration between the ULPGC and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Specifically, he spoke about the concentration of microplastics in European waters, the risk of microplastic ingestion in zooplankton, and, finally, the potential effects of microplastics and their chemical leachates on the functioning of marine ecosystems.
As lead sponsor is JPI Oceans (The Joint Programming Initiative Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans), a pan-European intergovernmental platform that increases the efficiency of research and innovation to achieve sustainably healthy and productive seas and oceans. The RESPONSE project has a budget of 2 million euros and will be completed over the next year.