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Atmospheric Microplastics in the Indian River Lagoon

  • hpastor2025
  • Jun 20
  • 3 min read

By Madison Serrate and Dr. Linda Walters

University of Central Florida, Department of Biology

Plastic pollution is a hot topic with microplastics (particles measuring < 5 mm long) being found everywhere from the deepest ocean trenches to the tops of our tallest mountains.

 

Publications by UCF biologists and chemists found that the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) is a microplastic hotspot, with about 1.5 microplastics per liter of lagoon water, while filter-feeding IRL oysters contain an average of 2.3 plastic particles. With all the buzz around this issue you may find yourself asking, should I be concerned?

 

Well, the prestigious journal Nature published an article in February 2025 documenting that researchers now have found microplastics in human brain tissue. Moreover, they estimate they can isolate approximately 10 grams of microplastics in a human brain. So, not only are microplastics found in the water and on mountain peaks, but there also are microplastics in you! And not just in your digestive tract.

 

How could these particles get there? Most likely in the air that we breathe. Microplastics (MP) are small enough that they can be transported in the air and then land in a distant location, called atmospheric deposition. Atmospheric deposition is the process that allows pollutants in our atmosphere to be deposited through wind, rain, snow, etc. This means the air we breathe contains microscopic plastics that we are inhaling every day. While the IRL has previously been identified as a microplastics hotspot by analyzing lagoon water, the role that atmospheric deposition plays in MP abundance value is currently unknown.


With seed funding from the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program and in collaboration with Friends of Canaveral, a team of University of Central Florida researchers are studying the impact that atmospheric deposition has on microplastic abundance on the Mosquito Lagoon and surrounding communities. To do this, we are collecting samples from Canaveral National Seashore (CANA) parking lots, oyster reefs throughout the park, as well as residential samples collected by citizen-scientist community members.

 

The samples are collected using sets of glass jars that are left open for specific time periods to allow particles in the wind or rain to be deposited. Once collected, standard U.S. Environmental Agency (EPA) laboratory processes are used to quantify plastic abundances and identify the types of plastics collected (such as polyethylene terephthalate, or PET).

 

Our research is ongoing, but to date our CANA parking lot samples have had the most microplastics, including polystyrene (Styrofoam) that may be coming from single-use Styrofoam items (e.g., coolers, boogie boards) that are often discarded next to garbage bins at the end of each day in the park.



This ongoing study will inform fellow researchers, policy makers, and community members on how the atmospheric deposition of microplastics is impacting CANA, the IRL, and surrounding communities. For now, please try to limit your use of single-use plastics, especially when in CANA. And now you know that this request extends beyond straws. Consider replacing your Styrofoam cooler with a chest cooler. The cooler may still be plastic, but it will last much longer and won't shed tiny polystyrene foam particles into the air.

 

Better yet, perhaps the park could consider banning single-use Styrofoam. Changes like this can do a lot to limit microplastic pollution when we all work together to keep our parks and air clean. 

 
 
 

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