About the project
Microscopic tyre-wear particles of synthetic rubber, plastic compounds and chemical additives are generated as car tyres wear out. Yet unquantified, tyre-wear could be the largest source of microplastics in the aquatic environment. This project will address the knowledge gap regarding presence, pathways and impact of tyre-wear in the ocean.
This project will address an important knowledge gap regarding the presence, fate and impacts of tyre-wear particles and their chemical additives (collectively TWPs) in the ocean. The student will use already available samples of seawater, marine particles, deep-sea sediments and pelagic zooplankton to investigate the spread, characteristics, and pathways of TWPs in the ocean. They will explore the accumulation of TWPs in the guts and tissues of zooplankton to assess the ingestion of these contaminants by marine primary consumers and the ability of these contaminants to translocate within an organism. The project aims to constrain the role of TWPs in the context of global plastic contamination and to establish their potential risks to marine life.
The student will use cutting-edge laboratory and analytical techniques, including mass spectrometry and gas chromatography for identifying and quantifying tyre particles and their additives, infrared spectroscopic imaging to detect microplastics, advanced zooplankton research facilities, including flow-imaging technologies for plankton enumeration.
The student will have opportunities to participate in research expeditions and to collect additional samples and will gain access to ancillary data from different observation platforms (e.g. satellites, sensors) to interpret findings. Designing new approaches to sampling and analysis will be encouraged.
Through CASE partnership with Emissions Analytics (UK), the student will access their state-of-the-art analytical facilities, training and expertise, as well as the unique extensive database of chemical compounds found in tyres, to adapt and validate methods for analysis and identification of TWPs and their associated additives in ocean samples.
Supervisors
You will also be supervised by organisations other than the University of Southampton, including:
- Dr Katsia Pabortsava from the National Oceanography Centre (lead supervisor)
- Professor Dan Mayor from University of Exeter
- Dr Kathryn Cook from University of Exeter