BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:EventsCalendar PRODID:-//hacksw/handcal//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York LAST-MODIFIED:20240422T053451Z TZURL:https://www.tzurl.org/zoneinfo-outlook/America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZNAME:EDT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:19700308T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=2SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZNAME:EST TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:19701101T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=11;BYDAY=1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT CATEGORIES:Lectures and Seminars,SMAST,SMAST Seminar Series DESCRIPTION:Seminar AnnouncementDepartment of Estuarine and Ocean Sciences" Plastics in Aquatic Ecosystems: Microbial Communities, Chemical Leachates, and Ecological Consequences"Dr. Christopher WardResearch Assistant Profes sor, Estuarine and Ocean Sciences, UMass Dartmouth Wednesday, November 1 8, 202612:30 - 1:30 pmSMAST E 101-103 and via Zoom Abstract: Plastic pollu tion affects aquatic ecosystems through more than the accumulation of pers istent particles. Plastic surfaces provide novel habitats for microbial co lonization, while additives and other plastic-associated chemicals can lea ch into surrounding waters and affect aquatic organisms. Over the past dec ade, my lab and I have investigated microbial colonization of plastics and the toxicity of plastic leachates in marine and freshwater ecosystems. In coastal seawater, we found that plastics supported distinct microbial com munities that varied by polymer type and underwent predictable patterns of ecological succession. Complementary experiments demonstrated that plasti c leachates varied in toxicity but were uniformly highly toxic to barnacle nauplii, even at the lowest concentrations tested. More recently, we exte nded this research to freshwater ecosystems, examining the effects of plas tic leachates on multiple components of the Lake Erie food web, including microbial communities, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish. Plastic leach ates elicited diverse, species- and concentration-dependent responses, ran ging from growth inhibition or stimulation in phytoplankton to sublethal p hysiological effects in zooplankton. Preliminary experiments with zebrafis h also suggested unexpectedly enhanced wound healing. LC-MS/MS analyses de tected compounds present in plastic leachates in samples from drinking-wat er treatment plants. Finally, I will discuss how insights from these studi es can inform the evaluation of emerging biodegradable materials. In parti cular, I will highlight opportunities to integrate microbial ecology, envi ronmental genomics, and ecotoxicology with biodegradation measurements to better understand the environmental fate and biological consequences of co nventional and alternative plastics. Join Meeting https://umassd.zoom.us/j /97440069270 Note: Meeting ID and password required, email contact to obta in. For additional information, please contact Callie Rumbut at c.rumbut@u massd.edu\nEvent page: https://www.umassd.edu/events/cms/11-18-26-plastics -in-aquatic-ecosystems-microbial-communities-chemical-leacha.php\nEvent li nk: https://umassd.zoom.us/j/97440069270 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Seminar Announcement
Departm ent of Estuarine and Ocean Sciences
"Plastics in Aquatic Ecosystems: Mi crobial Communities\, Chemical Leachates\, and Ecological Consequences"
Dr. Christopher Ward
Research Assistant Professor\, Estuarine and Ocea n Sciences\, UMass Dartmouth

Wednesday\, November 18\, 2026
1 2:30 - 1:30 pm
SMAST E 101-103 and via Zoom

Abstract:

P lastic pollution affects aquatic ecosystems through more than the accumula tion of persistent particles. Plastic surfaces provide novel habitats for microbial colonization\, while additives and other plastic-associated chem icals can leach into surrounding waters and affect aquatic organisms. Over the past decade\, my lab and I have investigated microbial colonization o f plastics and the toxicity of plastic leachates in marine and freshwater ecosystems. In coastal seawater\, we found that plastics supported distinc t microbial communities that varied by polymer type and underwent predicta ble patterns of ecological succession. Complementary experiments demonstra ted that plastic leachates varied in toxicity but were uniformly highly to xic to barnacle nauplii\, even at the lowest concentrations tested. More r ecently\, we extended this research to freshwater ecosystems\, examining t he effects of plastic leachates on multiple components of the Lake Erie fo od web\, including microbial communities\, phytoplankton\, zooplankton\, a nd fish. Plastic leachates elicited diverse\, species- and concentration-d ependent responses\, ranging from growth inhibition or stimulation in phyt oplankton to sublethal physiological effects in zooplankton. Preliminary e xperiments with zebrafish also suggested unexpectedly enhanced wound heali ng. LC-MS/MS analyses detected compounds present in plastic leachates in s amples from drinking-water treatment plants. Finally\, I will discuss how insights from these studies can inform the evaluation of emerging biodegra dable materials. In particular\, I will highlight opportunities to integra te microbial ecology\, environmental genomics\, and ecotoxicology with bio degradation measurements to better understand the environmental fate and b iological consequences of conventional and alternative plastics.

J oin Meeting

https://umassd.zoom.us/j/97440069270

Note: Mee ting ID and password required\, email contact to obtain.

For addit ional information\, please contact Callie Rumbut at c.rumbut@umassd.edu

Event page: https: //www.umassd.edu/events/cms/11-18-26-plastics-in-aquatic-ecosystems-microb ial-communities-chemical-leacha.php
Event link: https://umassd.zoom.us/j/97440069270

DTSTAMP:20261112T175237 DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261118T123000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261118T133000 LOCATION:SMAST East 101-103 SUMMARY;LANGUAGE=en-us:Plastics in Aquatic Ecosystems: Microbial Communitie s, Chemical Leachates, and Ecological Consequences UID:5c3d9e61d9ab9981f6137140575918de@www.umassd.edu END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR